My Pretty Beautiful
by Eryessa
Summary: To him, she's beautiful, to her she's nothing more than pretty. Lucy isn't a diva, she is Vickie Guerrero's on screen PA, and the younger sister of John Cena. She has secrets that he wants to learn, but all the while trying to save her from injustice coming at her from all angles. A Roman ReignsOC fic with some DeanOC and SethOC later on.
1. Chapter 1

**Just a heads up: this is a romance, not my style obviously. I just felt that Roman needed some loving, too. This is in no way related to any of my other stories. Enjoy.**

* * *

His grey eyes looked at her; the pretty auburn haired woman in front of him. Well not really, she was sitting ten feet from him as he and the rest of The Shield were preparing for their backstage rampage on another superstar. So pretty, and so quiet, the man known as Roman Reigns was mesmerized by her. Lucy wasn't it? Yet she was different when she was acting, he'd seen the skits between her and the other divas and she was good. But when she was by herself, like she was now, it was hard to even notice her. And this appealed to Joe Anoa'i a lot.

Joe didn't know how to approach the pretty woman, not that he's had any problems before but now it seemed different. Joe tried to think of something to say to her but he couldn't when Jon Good, or Dean Ambrose from the show, snapped him out of his reverie.

"Got your eyes on someone, big man?" Jon asked as he was taping his wrists.

"No," came the Samoan's simple answer looking away from the woman.

Colby Lopez laughed at the floor where he was doing a set of push ups. "He hasn't had any in a while. He'd go for anyone at the moment."

"Watch it, Seth, I can stomp you into the ground, man." Joe looked down at the youngest member in The Shield.

Pushing himself up, Colby dusted his hands on his pants and looked at Roman. "Well, just admit it. You have been moody lately."

"Moody, now you sound like a woman." Jon smirked.

"Sorry, my girl leaves around those damned women's magazine. It's the only thing I have to read waiting for her to get ready for a damn date."

Joe looked back over towards where he had seen the pretty woman. Unfortunately she wasn't there to occupy his attention. He saw her walking away with Brad Maddox. This annoyed him, and he didn't know why. Brad Maddox, why him?

"Okay man, spill." Jon brought his attention back to his brothers in arms. "What's gotten your head spinning."

"Or who?" Seth added.

"Look, it's no big deal." He waved them off. "Come on, we have chaos to bring to the show."

* * *

She had seen him, she had seen him watching her. Lucy Cena was not one to actively approach anyone and Roman Reigns really did scare her. She was scared of the three men known as The Shield so she opted to stay away from them.

"Hey, Lucy." She glanced up from her paperback book she had been reading. "We need to see Vickie about our skits tonight."

"All right." She put her book in her small satchel purse that she had with her. "Let's go."

Lucy glanced at Roman, Dean and Seth briefly before Brad caught her attention. He had been awfully nice to her, since about day one when John asked Stephanie McMahon to help her out. Being the on-screen PA for Vickie Guerrero was a thrilling experience, even for a person who had never acted a day in her life. Men still made her edgy though, even Brad.

"So, I was wondering..." Brad started to say, keeping his head forward but looking at the woman at the corner of his eye. "Maybe we can do something after the show."

"Um, I'm sorry. I don't think I can." She worried her lip a little, trying not to mess with the gloss she had applied. "I have an early flight tomorrow."

"Heading for the next Raw, huh?"

"No, I'm going home."

"Why?"

"It's not really something I want to discuss, Brad. Really it isn't. It's a personal matter."

She'd hoped he would just drop it, but it looked like he didn't want to drop it. Brad nudged her slightly with his elbow, smirking at her.

"Come on, we're all friends here. You can trust me."

Luckily the subject was dropped, when she saw her brother and Vickie waiting to start the skit.

"Hey, Luce, how is it going?" John asked, giving her a slight hug.

"It's okay." She smiled. "Hi, Ms. Vickie."

The older woman acknowledged her, but that was the best she had ever given Lucy. John, though, took on the role of protective older brother eyeing up Maddox intently.

"My flight is set up, I leave at ten so I need to be there by eight. You know how security is these days. Dan said he would pick me up."

"Great."

It was tense, really tense. She just didn't know how to keep up with a conversation, but John was easily able keep talk going, as was his personality.

The skit, it was supposed to be between Vickie Guerrero, Brad Maddox, Lucy and John Cena. Lucy the PA, the peacemaker, the pretty one. Lucy often wondered why the fans loved her and everyone else just seemed to be annoyed with her, well not everyone.

"Ms. Vickie," Lucy said walking into the scene.

"What!" Vickie all but yelled at the woman, who didn't as so much flinch at the outburst. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm talking here?"

"Mr. Cena is here to talk to you. I told him you were already busy, ma'am, but..." John came into the scene standing behind her. "Well, he's insistant."

"What? What is it, John?"

Lucy stood there, appearing to be doing something with her tablet that she was seen with all the time. While John spoke, her mind briefly flashed back to the man she had seen watching her earlier. It wasn't creepy to her, no it wasn't. But then again she wouldn't be in this mess if she had listened to her head and not her heart before...

"Thanks for nothing." John glanced at Lucy before stepping out of the scene.

"AHHH! This is so aggrivating."

"Ms. Vickie..." Lucy said.

"What? Can you do anything besides..."

"I scheduled a spa appointment for tomorrow.

The Cougar swished her hand in the PA's direction. "Good for you."

"Actually it's for you."

"Really?" Brad and Vickie chorused. "I could really go for a spa date." Brad added quickly, thinking about it.

Lucy shook her head. "No, it's just for Ms. Vickie. I thought she could use the relaxation that she needs. Anyway, I have to call your hotel, ma'am. They messed up your reservations, I'm going to go see what's going on and fix it. I'll call you for more information about the spa."

Skit over, at least she wasn't on for anymore during the rest of the night. Lucy actually enjoyed this promo, but she was more enjoyed that she would be able to go back to the hotel and get ready to leave for the airport the next morning.


	2. Chapter 2

Joe saw the skit with Lucy and it was amazing to him to see how well she acted. The WWE App was open on his phone as he was sitting in the airport waiting to get on his flight to Raw's next destination. The Shield wasn't slated to be on SmackDown or on Main Event so it gave them some time to relax between shows, and house shows. Oh yes, the house shows. He had one that Sunday before Raw on Monday, but it was the only thing going on that week.

Someone dropped a satchel bag down next to him before taking the seat next to that one. He'd thought it was one of the divas or an oblivious traveler. Until he heard a familiar voice quietly talking to whoever it was on her phone.

"Yes, Shawn, I know. I'll be there tomorrow. I hope this isn't a week long thing, I'm supposed to be on Monday Night Raw." She said.

He knew exactly who it was that was sitting next to him. It was the woman he'd been mesmerized by for a while now. Here she was sitting next to him, and yes she was oblivious to him, the hulking Samoan that he was. Pretending not to be listening in on her conversation, Joe went back to his phone all the while watching her. She had put a folder down next to her satchel bag that had Writing Journal written on the front and she was digging in her backpack for something as she continued to speak.

"He deserves this. I mean, what he did was wrong on all accounts. I hope his ass fries for what he did."

That wasn't the mouth he heard before, the sweet little quiet thing that he'd been watching for the last month. Wondering who she was talking to, Joe kept fiddling with his phone trying to piece together this little mystery. He liked mysteries, as long as there were enough fight scenes to keep his attention.

"Oh nertz, Shawn, I have to go. I can't find my ticket and I know I packed it. Yeah, see you there at the meeting. Don't worry, my brother Dan is picking me up. Yeah, I will. Bye." She said before ending the call and dropping the phone in her satchel. "Where did it go? I know I put it with everything this morning. John is going to kill me..." Lucy rambled as she searched through the backpack between her feet.

Something caught Joe's attention, which involved that writing journal folder. It was poking out of the top, with the name of the airline at the corner. That was what she was looking for. Her plane ticket, that's it.

"Um, ma'am..." He spoke, startling her so bad she actually sprang up from her seat. "Sorry, but um, did you check your folder?"

There he was, looking at her. Not something she expected so early in the morning. And he was laughing. He was laughing at her, just like a lot of others did at work.

"You startle easy, Lucy was it?" Joe asked.

"Yes, and yes. I've been in a weird funk lately." Looking down at her folder she smiled. "Well thank you for finding my ticket. I thought I was going to have a panic attack." Not to mention her face was almost as red as her hair.

Why was he happy? And why was she blushing? It's not like she didn't notice him when she sat down. Did she?

"I'm Joe by the way." He held his hand out to her, hoping just for one little touch.

She smiled and shook his hand. "Hi, Joe. I'm Lucy Cena."

"So you're related to The Champ, huh?" He rolled his eyes at the notion of Cena. Big man on campus.

"Do you hate him?" Lucy asked, sitting down again, trying not to worry her lip too much. If this man really hated her brother, how would she react?

"It's not that I hate him, it's just...he's too much like Superman, a boy scout. He's the favorite and I guess I'm jealous of that." Joe admitted leaning back in his seat.

Lucy nodded. She didn't think someone could be jealous of John, let alone someone who John worked with.

"Are you one of the writers or do you just act on the show?"

"Writers? Oh the folder. No. I, um, this is a personal writing folder. I like to write stories, I haven't published anything though." Lucy grabbed the folder before Joe could. "On a day to day basis I will write for five to fifteen minutes, about something, a story, description of something, date it and put it in my folder for later use."

"What do you like to write about?"

She shrugged, biting her lips. "I'm trying romance for the first time, like a drama. I just...I don't know. Lack of inspiration I guess."

"What makes you want to write a romance?" He tilted his head.

"I guess I want to express what I wish would happen to me in a relationship. I haven't had the best luck with romance..." Her head jerked up when an announcement for a plane came on over head. "That would be me, I have to go. I'll be on at the next Raw show. See you then, right?  
He couldn't help but feel that she was hoping to see him again.

"Of course. I have to help bring justice to Raw." He smiled at her as she got her stuff ready.

That smile, he loved to see that smile. A beautiful smile on a pretty woman's face. Joe silently watched her fret about trying to get her things together. He particularly liked how she would run her fingers through her hair as she gathered up her two bags and purse.

"Thank you." Joe said as she started walking away.

"For what, Joe?" She asked turning to look at him as she adjusted the strap of her satchel over her shoulder.

"For not being afraid of me."

Lucy smiled as she took in a shaky breath before biting her lower lip and turning away. Pulling her suitcases and carrying her bags, Lucy didn't dare look over her shoulder as she headed to her gate.


	3. Chapter 3

Joe, Joe, Joe, why couldn't she get her mind off of him?

After the hell of a week she went through, Lucy was happy to be back on the road. She felt she divulged a little too much about herself to a man she didn't know. Let alone one that was so imposing. He was nice, he had nice eyes but...

Lucy closed her eyes as she felt a hand touch her back. Jerking slightly away, she turned and found Brad there, smiling.

"Hey, how was your trip home?" He asked, looking down at her.

"It was okay. Got to see family again, went shopping for my baby niece with my sister-in-law. Just a girls' day out."

"Did you at least get something for yourself? You'd look good in blue." Brad said pushing back her hair over her shoulder.

"Retail therapy isn't really my thing."

Down the hall, Joe was walking with his Shield friends. They were on their way to their places to enter the ring for their match. That's when he saw Brad and Lucy, and instantly he growled.

"Well go on." Colby shoved Joe in his shoulder. "Go rescue your damsel."

He didn't have to be told twice. Joe marched up towards the two, hell bent on saving her. Anger slightly overrode all other judgments at that moment. Joe was sick and tired of seeing Brad with his hands on her when it was obvious she didn't like it.

"You know I want us to go out tonight, just the two of us." Brad had her pinned against the wall, her back pressed flat against it and one hand pressed to the wall, preventing her from moving anywhere.

She was trapped. The tiny woman looked almost afraid. That alone just made Joe angrier.

"Joe," she smiled turning from Brad when she saw the bigger man approaching. "Hi."

"Hi, Lucy. How are you?" If glares could kill, Brad would be dead by now from the look Joe was giving him.

"Um, fine." Inching out from near Brad she approached Joe. "I uh..." she didn't know what to do or say. This sort of thing never happened to her before.

"Would you like to meet the rest of the guys. You barely missed them at the airport. Colby was heading back to Iowa to see his girlfriend."

"Colby? Oh yeah, Seth that's right. Sure. I guess so. I mean, from what I learned is that I'll be having a skit with you guys in like a week or two." She pushed her hair behind her ear as she looked up at Joe.

Brad made the wise decision to quickly excuse himself. In a rush he left as the other two men approached, two men that were like Joe, big and tall. She should be used to this, John Cena is her brother, Randy Orton and others of such nature. Lucy barely came up to their sternums, just under their chins. One of the reasons, she hated high heels. Now she wished she didn't hate them as Jon Good and Colby Lopez approached her and Joe.

"Nice to finally meet you, Lucy." Jon smiled down at her, once all the introductions and handshakes were done. "You do a good job around here."

"It's just an acting thing. I'm not really good at it."

"Don't down play it, Sunshine." Jon stated as Joe stood oddly quiet. "You do good. And you're better looking than Vickie any day. I kind of like it that you call everyone Mr. or Ms. in front of their names."

"I still do. It's something that I have done since I was little. I even call Stephanie McMahon Ms. Stephanie." She rubbed her hand over her forearm.

"How did you get the job? I don't remember seeing you in FCW." Colby said while he was stretching his arms over his head.

"Cena's my brother, so he asked around for a job that I would be good at. Ms. Stephanie said that I would fit the part of an on screen PA." Lucy looked at Joe. "Um, thank you, by the way."

"For..." He prodded.

"Brad. I don't know, he's been strange since this whole GM stuff. He tries to get me to go out with him. And he likes touching me." Lucy bit the inside of her lip trying to think of something else to talk about.

"I can only guess why." Jon stated.

"Dude, come on." Colby nudged the other man. "I mean can 'YOU' be any more obvious?"

"I call 'em as I see 'em. I'm an honest kind of guy."

"Thank you, I think." Glancing at her watch, Lucy hissed slightly. "Oh nertz, I have to get to makeup and wardrobe. I was on my way when all of this happened. I'm sorry, I have to go. See you around, yeah?" She looked at Joe as she started to walk backwards slightly.

Joe smiled at her. "Of course, go."

"See you around, Sunshine." Jon waved as Lucy started walking away.

"Bye."

Joe glared at his teammate when Lucy had left. "Really, man?"

The blonde just smiled at his teammate.

* * *

"Okay, what is it?" Vanessa Hopkins the hair dresser asked as she was brushing Lucy's hair. "You've been reading the same paragraph on that script since you got here. So spill girl."

Vanessa was Lucy's favorite hairdresser, and part time makeup artist. She was so nice to just about everyone but didn't fill the other superstars and divas in on gossip. Nessa, as she liked to be called, was a beautiful blonde straight out of LA. Kind of a hipster, who gave Lucy fashion tips since the younger woman started in the WWE. When basically all the other divas pushed Lucy away, even Vickie Guerrero, Nessa stepped in as a friend.

"Uh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it." Lucy waved her off the other woman.

"Is it about 'HIM'?" Nessa prodded as she brought a brush through Lucy's almost glowing hair. She said 'HIM' with venom laced into her words, which meant Nessa was angry about someone, and Lucy knew who.

"Oddly no. No it's not."

"Then what is it? I've never really seen you in a deep thought like this before. It's sort of worrying."

"I just...I met Roman Reigns last week when I flew back home."

"Oh Mr. Grey Eyes. He's cute."

"He's huge. In a good way." Lucy closed her eyes. "And it felt nice. It felt normal even though I didn't realize he was sitting a seat away from me. I was talking to Shawn and then I thought I lost my plane ticket, but Joe found it in the one place I usually keep papers."

Nessa laughed. "That Writer's Journal folder of yours, no doubt. And, what else? I want every juicy detail."

"There's nothing much to tell. He asked me about what I was writing and then my flight was called and I left. Well there was that statement he made. He said Thank You."

"For what?"

"For not being afraid of him."

"Oh, that's so sweet. Were you, I mean are you afraid of him?" Nessa asked.

She wasn't sure how to answer that. "I get nervous around people, too easily around men. It's like if I talk about something or anything, I don't know how to steer the conversation. I'm not confident like I am on television."

"Honey, you can be confident off camera, too. Just pretend you're acting, acting is pretending after all. Get back into your confident Lucy self. Take strides to over come this obstacle."

"Easier said than done. And Joe, that's Roman, he showed up unexpectedly when Brad was trying to get me to go out with him tonight."

"Brad was trying to get you to go out tonight?"

"Yeah, but I think Joe scared him off. I met the other two members of The Shield, they were nice guys. Dean Ambrose is just as weird on television as he is off, I guess it isn't all a gimmick with him."

Nessa made a sound, a sound that Lucy never heard before and it made Lucy look up at the hairdresser in the mirror quizzically. Lucy wasn't all that good with facial expressions, but it wasn't nervousness that she saw on Nessa's face. It sort of reminded her of when she thought of Joe. That's the kind of way she would look if the mere thought of him passed her.

"You like him, don't you? You like Dean Ambrose." The last part wasn't a question, it was a statement.

Nessa wouldn't meet Lucy's eyes for a moment, which gave Lucy the answer she was looking for.

"Why not go for him?" Lucy asked.

"I'm not his type. I bet his type is loose and stupid. Ring rats, you know that sort of thing."

"John mentioned them on several occasions, I just didn't think...he sort of flirted with me, I think. The way he sounded, and Colby's reaction to it meant something."

"What do you think it meant?"

"I don't know. He just got this weird vibe about himself, not bad but not all the way good. Sort of like a...oh I don't know. He's a shade of grey, not all the way bad but not all the way good. Psychotic is what I heard someone call him once."

"He's that for sure."

"Hey, Lucy, there you are." She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes when Brad walked into the room. "So, are we on for tonight? You, me, a little dancing?" He smiled at her, ignoring the hairdresser standing behind her.

Never mind that there was someone in the room besides them. What was his need to go out with her anyway? What was the sudden rush?

"Brad, look I know you're a nice guy but I am not looking for a relationship. I just got out of one not too long ago and I don't really feel like looking for another one so soon. And I can't dance." There, there was that confidence she needed. She needed a little assurance, and a little bit of the fact that Nessa was with her at this point.

The look on his face was odd. Like he had been slapped. She tried to explain that she wasn't interested, to let him know what she thought he meant.

"Friends can't go out and have fun together?" Suddenly he was back to that nice guy attitude.

"Um..."

"Hey, Vanessa!" An English woman's voice broke into the conversation as one of the other divas came in.

"Layla, hi. What can I do for you?" Nessa asked, as she finished off Lucy's hair.

"Girls night out. Want to come?"

"As long as Lucy joins, sure."

With a shrug Layla nodded. "That sounds good. Wear something sexy tonight." She glanced at Brad oddly before bounding out of there.

"Well it looks like we'll be heading out to the same place tonight. See you out there." Brad smiled at Lucy before walking out of the makeup room.

That wasn't what she wanted.

Lucy didn't want any of this.


	4. Chapter 4

"Do I really look okay?" Lucy asked, tugging at the dress she was given.

Nessa smiled. "Of course, honey. You look delectable. And with your hair, I'm sure that no man will want to get your number."

"Nessa, I told you, I didn't..."

"I hope Ambrose is there. I heard he likes going to clubs. You will bring my drunk ass back to the hotel if I get too juiced tonight, right?"

"Yeah, I promise. Just...don't leave my side."

The two women were in Lucy's hotel room getting ready for the night out at the club. Lucy was still worried about it, she'd never been to a club before and she'd remember some of the things that John had told her. She remembered he'd been stabbed outside of one early on in his wrestling career. Had she a choice, Lucy would have just stayed in and got ready to go to the next venue. SmackDown was being taped the next day with Main Event, neither of which she was a part of. Nessa had to work most events and house shows, being a hair dresser and make up artist.

There was a knock on the door to Lucy's hotel room. She went to go answer it and found John there with Nikki Bella, his girlfriend. Since working for the WWE as an actress, Lucy acted like the brunette wasn't a problem. Nikki wouldn't start something, not in front of John. But from the looks the two of them had, something shocked them.

"Lucy, is that really you?" John asked dumbly, looking her over.

It was a black dress, it was snug up her middrift but it flared out at the bottom. The dress grazed her knees and Lucy had grown three inchest from the black strap heels that she was wearing. Not only that, she was wearing real make up. Eye shadow, blush, and a color tinted lip gloss. Lucy's hair looked slightly redder than usual. This wasn't the little sister John was used to seeing around. The little sister he had helped.

"Yeah, John, it is." She sighed, and shifted her weight onto her left foot. "Layla invited Nessa out and she said she would go as long as I went. So I'm going."

"Why, you're not really a social person you know." Nikki said.

"Nikki." John warned.

"I'm just pointing out the obvious." She tried to defend herself, raising her hands in defense.

"If she wants to go out then she can. I came to say that Nikki and I were heading out but I guess I should ask if you wanted a ride."

"I'm driving us to the club, we have my rental. I'll be driving us back, you know I don't drink."

"Oh, okay. Well...I guess I'll see you at the club." John leaned in and kissed Lucy on the cheek before ushering Nikki away.

"I hate her." The dead tone in Nessa's voice sounded behind her as Lucy closed the door. "Nikki, I hate her."

"Why?"

"Because she treats you like crap."

Nikki and her sister Brie, even that Aksana woman, treated her pretty badly. It's gotten to the point where she wasn't welcomed in the diva's locker room. That's how Nessa and Lucy got to know each other. Lucy had asked Nessa if she could change in the makeup room one day and they have been best friends since. Lucy the quiet one, Nessa the bubbly blonde that knew something about fashion and make up, they made up two friends who were on the opposite side of the .

"Well let's go. I want to see if Ambrose is there tonight."

Shaking her head from the thoughts, Lucy grabbed her keys and keycard, her purse that had the things she would need if she ever really got bored. A pad of paper and a pen, and her iPhone. Making sure she had everything she locked her hotel door and then they headed out.

* * *

Joe sighed as he watched Jon and another woman dancing provocatively nearby. He knew that Colby was back at the hotel Skyping his girlfriend, and doing who knows what. The Samoan didn't know why he agreed to go out with Jon that night, it wasn't like he had anything going for him. Again his mind traveled to Lucy. He'd wondered what she was doing right now. Probably sleeping since there were tapings the next day. He couldn't picture her coming to a club like this.

"Joe?"

His head jerked up and whipped around to see if his ears were miss hearing things. No, it couldn't be. She wouldn't be here.

Lucy smiled as she tilted her head to look down at the man. "Hey, I uh, I didn't know you would be here. May I sit?" She indicated to Jon's vacated seat at the booth near the dance floor.

"No, I mean, yeah you can sit here. I'm just...you look wonderful."

"Oh, thank you. Nessa helped me. She's getting drinks and since you're the only other person here I know, I thought..."

"It's okay. I was actually pretty bored."

"Are the others here as well?" She asked as she watched Joe pull a chair out for her, something she'd never experienced before, especially from a man.

Once she had settled into the seat she followed Joe's gaze. "Well, Colby's Skyping his girlfriend and Jon's having a grand old time with some of the women here. Not to sound rude, but what are you doing here? I wouldn't picture you as a club kind of lady."

Lucy bit her glossed lower lip, which Joe had a hard time trying to avoid looking at. Even in the odd strobed lighting of the hyper club, she still had those eyes that he liked so much.

"I'm not really a socialable person, and a place like this...it makes me uncomfortable."

"We could just leave."

"I promised Nessa that I would come with her. Actually, she told Layla that she'd come as long as I came as well."

She could just barely see Nessa talking to Layla and Kaitlyn through the throng of club-goers. They were over at the bar with Stephen Farrely, or Sheamus. Stephen was with a few of his European friends so it looked like she was forgotten about again. Lucy knew that it would happen often enough, it did when she was younger. Lucy had five older brothers, and they were always the center of attention growing up. Not that she didn't mind, well some times she did. Right now wasn't one of them.

"You can go over there, you know." Joe caught her attention again. "It's no big deal."

"I actually like it over here. You interest me." Lucy smiled at him. "Can I ask, are you really The Rock's cousin?"

"Yeah, along with The Usos."

"I heard one of them is the fiance to Naomi of the Funkadactyls."

"You don't really know wrestling do you?"

"It was never my thing, unfortunately. It was John's thing but never mine. I liked reading stories, writing them. But I was never a girly-girl. I liked baseball and soccer growing up. Those were my sports."

"Football was mine. I tried that before I found I preferred wrestling."

Talking to Joe was fun. He told her things about when he started as a wrestler back in FCW, before it changed to NXT. Having a large family like hers. Even about where they grew up.

"I still live in Boston. Before this, I've never been outside of Massachusetts before. The winters are beautiful, I was born in the winter, during a snow storm actually so snow has always been a thing for me. I have never been to a beach."

"I live in Florida, you'd like it down there. They have some of the best beaches. My grandfather came from Hawaii and I've been there maybe three times when I was younger. We'll be going there this year. I hope you can see it."

Before either could continue talking Jon slinked back over table, dropping into a vacant seat across from Lucy. He was slightly tipsy and he had some lipstick on his cheek. "Hey there, Sunshine. Fancy seeing you here."

"Um, you have something on your face." She said, motioning to her cheek where the lipstick print was.

"You know the fans." He tried to get the print off with the back of his hand.

Reaching into her purse, Lucy brought out a tissue. "Here, wet this with your tongue and then it ought to come off easily. You're just smeering it."

"Yes, Mom." He chided, before doing as she instructed. "What are you doing here?"

"My friend brought me. She'll be raging drunk by the end of the night and I'll be driving her back to the hotel." Lucy pointed towards the bar.

"What the makeup artist and hair dresser?" Jon asked, looking over the blonde. "She's cute. Not my type though."

There was an odd silence from Lucy as she toyed with her purse. Jon knew she was trying to decide what to say but wouldn't. Joe just assumed she wasn't used to his friend's strange behavior.

"Come on, I'll go get you that drink. Mine's empty anyway." Joe said standing up.

Grabbing her purse, Lucy followed behind the larger man, making sure they didn't get split up. But that wasn't what stopped her that split them up. A had grabbed her elbow, holding it firmly.

She found Brad standing there, staring at her.


	5. Chapter 5

"Brad? Oh hi." She smiled slightly up at him. "I just got here with Vanessa."

"I want to dance." He slurred slightly. He couldn't stand straight, which made Lucy wonder if he could even dance, not that she had wanted to.

"I told you before, I don't dance." Lucy stepped back. "And I promised..."

"Screw who you promised." He snapped at her. "Can't you see, I like you and I want you so bad." He raked his eyes over her.

"Brad, stop." She pleaded, trying to pry his hand off her arm.

His grip on her arm tightened painfully, preventing her from moving away. When she tried to pull back he pulled her closer. She was scared, breathing heavily and trying to think of something. She spied John nearby, hanging out with his friends and girlfriend.

"John!" Lucy looked over towards where she had seen her brother. "John, please help me. JOHN!"

Nikki was watching Lucy's problem as John continued talking to his friend Randy. She smiled, lifting her nose as Lucy continued to struggle against Brad's drunken grip. But it wasn't John that came to her aid, it was a different one in total. Jon Good came up and shoved the man off Lucy, making him stumble into a group of divas and some other superstars. Thankfully Lucy hadn't fallen from the impact of Jon's intervention. Lucy felt Jon move her behind him as he squared off with Brad who was slowly getting to his unstable feet.

"You think you can put your hands on a woman?" Jon roared as Lucy rubbed her sore arm.

"Look man, it's not what you think." Brad slurred back.

"It looks like you're hurting her, you ass! I swear if I see you put your hands on her I'll..."

Looking around, Lucy pushed her way through the gawking crowd, heading to the nearest exit. She didn't want to be there anymore. The fun ended when another man put his hand on her and she didn't want people to see her cry. She went outside, dropping onto a bench outside the club on the busy street and cried. Cried for everything she's worth.

He couldn't stand it, not when it was her. He followed her, he would have helped her with Maddox but there were too many people in the way to get back to her. When he heard Lucy call out to her brother, begged him, Joe knew that she needed someone. He was thankful that someone was Jon, or who knows what Brad could have done to her. A little while later Joe found her, crying into her hand, hunched over on the bench outside the club, just balling her eyes out.

"Lucy." He whispered once he was close to her.

She looked up when she heard Joe's voice. Biting her lip she looked away, feeling like she was being laughed at in a way. It was humiliating, it was wrong to her for a man to watch a woman cry.

"Hey, hey...it's all right. I'm not out here to do anything." Joe squatted down in front of her, looking up at her face. "I promise, Lucy. I just want to make sure you're okay."

"I don't like drunks." She admitted, wiping her eyes with a tissue she found in her bag. "I...I can't be around them. They are not all bad, I know but..."

"You've met too many of the bad ones, haven't you?" Joe asked standing up again.

"Lucy!" Nessa yelled coming out of the club.

"She's over here." Joe called out.

Nessa wasn't alone, she had Jon Good with her. The blonde woman ran up on heels, a feat Lucy knew she would never be able to accomplish in her life. Lucy stood from the bench and allowed her friend to hug her. Joe looked over at Jon, who seemed more aware now than he had been back in the club, and nodded. He was thankful that Jon had been there for Lucy, had been the one to stop Brad. Had it been Joe, what would he have done would have probably screwed his wrestling career into the ground.

"Girl, I am so sorry. I am so freaking sorry. I didn't...I didn't..."

"Nessa, it's okay. It's not your fault. Joe and I were going to the bar but Brad stopped me." Lucy groaned when she heard her phone start going off, John's entrance song was her ring tone for him. "That's John, I don't want to..."

"Let me." Nessa took Lucy's phone. "John...yeah, she's here. She's a little shaky but...we're going out to eat instead. Well if you had paid attention to her none of this would have happened, John. She screamed your damn name, I heard her. Yeah, well she's my best friend. You're a damn ass, you know that."

Jon smirked, Joe shook his head and Lucy stared. Nessa was more bubbly than usually when she was drinking. And a spitfire too. She actually hung up on John before handing the phone back to Lucy.

"Man, I want to slap him stupid." Nessa said, crossing her arms.

"He already is." Lucy said, putting her phone back in her purse. "I...I just want to go back to the hotel."

"Well you do need to get away from here. Since you're sober and Joe ought to be, too, why not get a bite somewhere. That diner near the airport looks good. How about there?" Jon suggested. "Joe and I will meet you two there."

Neither of the two men gave the women a chance to disagree as they headed over to their rental and drove off. Lucy didn't have the chance to say anything, to speak up on her behalf.

"Boy, can those guys move fast. I can't wait to feel Dean's legs." Nessa spoke up.

"Come on, and his name is Jon, Jon Good. Jon spelt J O N. And Roman is Joe."

"I know." Nessa followed Lucy to their rental. "I just like to have my fantasies, too, you know."

* * *

Joe smiled when he saw her walk into the diner with Nessa. He held his hand up and waved, smiling in the process.

"Don't act so enthused there, Joe." He heard Jon say from beside him. "Although...her friend does look to be a little fun. Cussing out Cena like that."

"Sorry, I have my family calling after Nessa blew up on John." Lucy said as they got to the table. "My family worries, they always have even though I was the one that was less likely to get into trouble. The good girl."

"Good girls go bad you know." Jon said as she slipped into the booth, facing him as Nessa sat in front of Joe.

"Not this one. I was the good girl, the quiet one, the smart one...never got into trouble. Didn't mean trouble couldn't find me."

"Oh, and what about you, Sweetheart?" Jon looked at the blonde woman. "Did you ever get into trouble?"

"It was when I learned that I wanted to be a makeup artist. I was eight and my dad fell asleep drunk. Found some of my mom's makeup and decided to pretty Dad up a little. Still have the picture."

The waitress came to fill up a coffee for three out of four of the customers. Lucy ordered a Diet Mountain Dew. They ordered something to eat and then settled in to the quiet diner. But then the groups' cell phones started going off.

"TMZ is involved." Nessa looked at her phone. "Brad Maddox roughing up a woman at a club. Oh look, someone filmed it."

"Man, this is so damn screwed up." Jon said when he got a text from Colby. "It's like a nightmare."

"Tell me about it. I got a text from Ms. Stephanie, she wants to see me tomorrow." Lucy added shutting off her phone. "I just...wish people would leave me alone, you know. I thought John would help, but even when I called he didn't look. And she was smiling."

"Who?" Joe asked, leaning forward.

"Nikki. She saw me, she heard me and all she could do was smile." Lucy shook her head pushing her hair back. "It doesn't help that a lot of the others don't like me. I'm only here because Cena's my brother."

"You are better looking than him." Jon said, making Lucy laugh into her hand. "There, there's the smile that I like to look at. Right, Joe?"

He'd been sold out by his friend. "I agree with you on that."

Lucy instantly blushed, biting her lip. "Thanks, both of you."

A while later after they had finished their meals, it was decided they should head back to the hotel. They had talked in length about sports mainly, Jon told them about some of his blood soaked Indy matches he had been in. Nessa oohed and awed at the scars Jon possessed. It was fun, it kept Lucy from worrying about everything going on, including the dreaded meeting she had the next day with Stephanie McMahon.

Lucy walked out of the diner and stopped when Joe lightly touched her elbow. As she looked up at him, Joe eyed the arm that Brad had grabbed earlier in the night. He fought the urge to run his fingers over the start of a bruise that was forming there, but Joe brought his eyes back to Lucy while she looked at him. She looked confused, which to him was absolutely cute.

"Maybe we could go out sometime once everything cools down?" He suggested.

"I don't know, Joe. I don't...I'm scared. This wouldn't be the first time someone has hurt me before." Lucy admitted as she looked away from his handsome face. She watched where his hair lay over his large shoulders in interest.

So someone has hurt her, Joe thought as his lips thinned.

Was he mad at her, Lucy wondered after they stood in silence.

Off in the distance Jon and Nessa were watching the two over at Jon's rental. "You know, they'd look cute together. How much you want to bet he kisses her?" He looked at the blonde.

"I say five bucks, I can't go higher than that, and on the head."

"Kay, five it is. On the cheek." Jon dug into his pocket for his wallet.

"Lucy." She looked up when Joe finally spoke to her. Green meeting grey as she tried to think of something to reply when the man took a step closer.

She closed her eyes, thinking the worse but kept her chin up. Lucy knew that she had messed up again, that she made a fool of herself for crying and blubbering. What she didn't expect was to feel Joe press a kiss to the top of her head, while his thumb pressed slightly into her collar bone.

"Then we'll take everything at a pace you're comfortable with. Better bring her around more often though." Joe nodded his head in the direction of Jon and Nessa. "I think she and Jon will get along great."

"Okay, yeah. That sounds good. Maybe we four can do something, something you like maybe."

"Me or Jon?" Joe asked, laughing slightly.

"See you later, Joe."

"Okay."

Nessa collected her five bucks from Jon as Joe headed back towards his rental. She smiled at her friend as they both got into the car. In the car she just looked at Lucy with a smile as Lucy pulled out of the diner parking lot.

"What?" She finally asked, glancing at Nessa.

"You like him don't you?"

"Joe? I do."

"But..." Nessa turned to her friend as they came to a stop light.

"I'm scared. I'm really, really scared, Nessa."

Scared, scared that it will all be the same thing all over again.

* * *

**Yeesh, I'm not too totally thrilled with this chapter. I'm bland when it comes to confrontation scenes. I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for all the views and reviews. I appreciate it.**


	6. Chapter 6

"What the hell happened last night?" Stephanie McMahon asked, standing up from her desk while looking at Brad Maddox, John Cena and Lucy Cena. "Maddox, I'm talking to you."

"I was drunk." He said, holding his hands up. "Why isn't Ambrose in here, he assaulted me."

"Yeah well you deserved it." John stated, glancing at his sister. "I don't trust her anywhere near him, Steph."

"I'll make that decision, John. Let me see it, Lucy. Let me see your arm." She motioned to the younger woman.

Apprehensively, Lucy rolled up her sleeve to the top she decided to wear. There was a handprint located just below her elbow, on her forearm. It was a big nasty purble color and still slightly tender to the touch. As Stephanie rubbed her fingers over the bruise, Lucy flinched away, but didn't make a sound. John looked at Brad, murder in his eyes.

But it was the fact that he didn't do anything about what happened. John had not paid attention to his sister, a promise he made to his Pops when they brought Lucina Edith Cena home. He'd watch her as she grew up in the household, watched her become a pretty girl, with ambitions of being a writer. He'd cheered her on in baseball and soccer, for as long as he could. Yet, now, he couldn't protect her from a simple drunk man in a club. That's what made John so mad, not totally at Brad, but at himself.

"Ms. Stephanie, I don't..."

"Do you know what they are saying on Twitter? It's a hot topic and it's making us look bad." Stephanie let Lucy's arm go.

"I don't know what everyone is saying on Twitter, I don't have an account." Lucy stated as she sat back down next to John.

"Why?"

She shrugged. "I like my personal life personal. Social media just isn't my thing. I don't even have Facebook."

"And now management wants to have this as a storyline." Stephanie motioned to everyone in the room. "They want to move you from being Vickie's on screen PA, to The Shield's PA or something like that. I don't have a say in what happens, but I just want you to know, Lucy, that this may change your standing in the show, or shows."

"What's going to happen to me?" Brad asked.

"Putting your hands on a woman, drunk or not, isn't the best way to earn brownie points around here." Stephen glared at him hard. "Unfortunately, it was one incident. And it's not like it was worth getting fired over." Brad visibly sighed. "But if it happens again..."

"It won't, I promise."

"If it does, we'll have to take discaplinary actions against you. Assaults like this will not be tolerated. Management and the Writers will discuss the storyline and we will have the answers as to what we're going to do with Lucy by next Monday. You may go."

Lucy was more than happy to leave. She didn't trust Brad at that moment, or her own brother. And the fact that the room was small with them in it, that didn't help. John had to get ready for the house show and since Lucy was only ever used on Monday Night Raw, she was free to go. That didn't mean she couldn't stop in on Nessa at her work station.

"Wait, Lucy." Brad called out. "Hey, I want to talk to you."

She turned and looked at him. "What, Brad?"

"I wanted to say I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that last night. I was drunk and I was pissed."

"Pissed, why?"

"Pissed because you seem to like Roman more than me."

"He doesn't scare me, he doesn't push himself onto me, he's actually a gentleman." She said. "But I don't want to date anyone. Not for a while. You've just been pushing this friendship thing weirdly and I don't like it. So please, just leave me alone until things cool down."

"Yeah, right, you're absolutely right. I, uh, I guess I'll just go then." Brad motioned behind him, then he took his own words to heart and left. Glancing at her over his shoulder as he left.

But that wasn't the end of her problems.

"Boy problems, Little Lucy?" One of the twins asked.

And low and behold, it was Nikki and Brie, or Brie and Nikki, she wasn't so sure. They were blocking her way to Nessa's work station in the back. They had that twin smile going on and it was starting to get unnerving. Something out of The Shining or something.

"No." Lucy felt her hands curl into fists at her sides.

"That's not what we heard. We heard you have a thing for a certain Samoan."

"I don't have a thing for anyone."

"Good, you don't deserve to be with anyone from here." The twin on the right said. There was a ring on her index finger as she pushed her hair back. This one was Nikki. Lucy knew because she helped John pick out that ring for her. "You're not good enough to be here at all. I don't even know why John insisted that you had to be here. I mean look at you."

"Fat and ugly, I mean at least Vickie can act, but you." Brie made a raspberry sound. "You're not good at anything."

They shoved by her, leaving Lucy feeling like a nothing. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and then headed down the hall to where she needed to go. But she hadn't seen the person watching, someone who had never approached her. Someone who understood the things people like Nikki and Brie Bella spoke. And she was sure as Hell that this wasn't going to go any further.

Back with Lucy, she found Nessa, who looked a little worse for comfort that day. She was pale, her hair seemed limp even with all the moose in it. For as long as Lucy had known Nessa, the blonde was always so well put together. Today was different, she wasn't her normal active, talkative self.

"Are you sick or something?" Lucy asked as Nessa was rooting around in her makeup kit.

"I was tipsy, I swear but I woke up with this damned headache and it's driving me nuts."

"Somehow I doubt that is the reason why you're so...strange today. Did you sleep well?" Lucy asked as she sat in an unused seat in the room.

"No and it's because of 'HIM' and now I can't stop thinking about 'HIM' and it's driving me bonkers."

A month that Lucy knew Nessa, and the more confident one of the two was always well put together. But seeing her fall to pieces like this was a little alarming. Lucy just didn't know how to help.

"It's Jon, isn't it?"

"Yes! Yes his damn fine eyes, his brilliant humor and his freaking sex appeal. Not to mention, he's got a fine ass while wearing his tight jeans. And when he does that glare thing, where he puckers up...I can only guess what he can do with those lips on me. Don't get me started on his hands."

"He's a dangerous kind of person, Nessa. You saw his personality last night."

"I know, but that appeals to me, too. The Bad Boy that every mother warns her daughter to stay away from. The Forbidden Fruit of Romance, you know."

"No, I don't know. My mom never had to worry about me dating and if I did...well, I have five brothers and a father to scare him away. One time, I was like fourteen when a boy asked to go out with me. He said I was stupid, in front of Dan and I swear my brother scared him so bad the guy peed himself."

"Oh, Honey. I'm so sorry. How'd Dan scare him?"

"Um, said something along the lines of having Mob connections or something like that. Promised to put him in cement shoes and dump him in the river that ran near the house. Something there of, I was crying in the kitchen because I truly thought I was stupid."

"Well you're not." Nessa said. "What did Joe ask you after the diner last night?"

"He asked me out, to get to know me better."

"Oh, I hope you said yes."

"Actually, I admitted that I was scared. I even told him that this wasn't the first time someone had hurt me like this. And then he suggested that you, me, Jon and him go do something together. I guess so I wouldn't feel scared."

"I'll take a double date if it means I can get Ambrose out of my system."

Lucy couldn't have asked for a better friend than Nessa. This was someone she could trust, to have that sisterly friendship with. Ever since her last friend moved away back in high school, keeping friends was hard for Lucy. She didn't like to have large crowds of friends, maybe one or three very close friends was enough for her. But keeping them was the hard part. They promised to keep in touch but contact just sort of was lost over the years. Lucy wasn't a long distance relationship kind of person either.

"So when do you want to do it?" Nessa asked after she had touched up Layla's makeup.

"Do what when?" Lucy asked after the brunette diva had left, looking like she had been deep in thought about something.

"The double date with Joe and Jon?"

"Oh, I don't know. I don't even know if they're here to ask them."

"Main Event should be starting soon. Maybe if you walked around you could find one of them, maybe Seth. And while you're at it, tell him he needs to trim that farrett off his face. Trim not shave. He's a sexy beast, I want to keep it well groomed, but with Sandow walking around, I don't think I want his pretty face getting overgrown."

"Um, okay. I'll go look."

Lucy didn't know if she could confront either man. It was always someone coming to her, not her going to them.

Confidence, that's what she needed. She needed to be confident.

If it were only that simple these days; it would make a difference to her.

* * *

**Thank you all for your support. I really appreciate the views and reviews. I like to hear how people like my stories. Thank you. More to come later.**


	7. Chapter 7

She couldn't find him, not while the Main Event taping was going on. From what Lucy knew about the WWE, Tuesdays were filming days for Main Event and SmackDown. Sometimes wrestlers performed twice in one day, which bewildered Lucy once she stopped to think about it.

"Hey..." Her head snapped up when she heard someone familiar approach.

"Mr. Punk..." Lucy slightly gasped not expecting him to show up at all. "I uh, hi, Phil."

Phil Brooks smiled at the woman in front of him. "Hi back. How are you doing?"

"Um, fine. Why do you ask?"

"John asked me to go check up on you, since you're sort of hard to find for him. Were you a champion of hide and seek growing up?"

Lucy bit a laugh as she looked at Phil's lip ring. "I guess. My brothers were always too old to play the games girls did. At least I didn't play with babydolls. I played with dinosaurs."

"Really, and what was your favorite growing up?"

"Velociraptor, well sort of. Deinonychus was my favorite. Jurassic Park had it wrong in the movies. They liked the name of Velociraptor but in real life, they are only about three feet tall. Deinonychus is the height of a grown man, so the movie people morphed the two together, leaving out the fact that both were feathered. Sorry, it's hard to keep things simple when I try to explain them."

"You don't need to keep apologizing for speaking your mind. Look at me, people hate and love me at the same time for what I have to say. You can't please everyone." He smiled calmly at her. "You have to please yourself. So what would please you right now?"

"I'm looking for The Shield." She hoped that he didn't hate them like some people she knew.

"Are you going to thank Ambrose for what he did last night? It's all over Twitter right now." Phil asked as he watched her fidget with one of the rings on her fingers.

"No, I...I want to go out with Jon and Joe with my friend Nessa. I just have to find them first."

"Come on, then. I think I know where to look. They're in the SmackDown taping."

"I don't want to bother them if they're getting ready for the show." She motioned with her hands, shaking her head with them.

"Trust me, you won't." Phil gave her a big grin.

Lucy had never really hung out with Phil Brooks, the Mr. Punk thing came when out of a minor shock she'd forgotten his real name. John and Phil were friends, even if they were enemies on the shows at some points. Each have had their highs and lows in the company, but both were easygoing. And she'd slip up once in a while and call Phil Mr. Punk. Phil knew and understood, allowing the younger woman to get used to him on her own terms. He never pushed her to be his friend.

"I heard you were coming back. Sorry if I missed your return." Lucy said, looking up at Phil.

"Hey, it's okay, Toots. I've been watching your skits since you started though. You're really good."

"Thank you."

"I'm wondering though; what is your dealings with The Shield anyway?"

"I met Roman at the airport when I was going home last week for personal reasons. And then he scared off Maddox who kept pestering me to go out with him. Last night, Jon stepped up when my John didn't do anything. That one also involved Maddox, but this time he left his mark" She pulled up her sleeve for him to see.

"Oh shit, that looks bad doesn't it? And that's why you, John and Maddox were in that meeting with Stephanie. What's going to happen now?"

"I don't know. Management wants to move me from being Vickie's PA to The Shield. They haven't decided yet. Hopefully by Monday they will."

"We're all friends around here, Lucy. Come get me if you need anything. As friends, can we go out and grab some sodas some time? I'm not rushing you to make a decision, but just know you can count on me, Toots. You're my friend's sister, I guess I kind of look at you like a sister too."

"Have you called your sister?" Lucy had vaguely remembered Phil mentioning his home life, that he had a younger sister and he was close to her, along with his parents. He had a brother but he wasn't close to him at all.

"Shit no, and hey look there's one of the Shield guys." Phil motioned up the hall towards one of the locker rooms. "You go talk to him and I'll see if I can get a hold of my sister. Thanks for reminding me, Toots." He lightly touched her elbow, well aware of her issues with being touched by people. "I'll see you around."

Phil was an interesting man, Lucy mused as she worried her lip. Looking at Colby, she tried to think of what to say. She had to be confident, she had to be sure of herself even if she wasn't. Why was this so hard for her?

"Colby..." She said approaching him from behind. "Hi."

"Hey, Lucy. How have you been?"

"Dealing with stuff I didn't want to deal with. Um, have you seen Jon or Joe, preferably both?" She asked, playing with her ring again.

"Yeah, they're in the men's locker room. I'll go find them for you." He nodded, stepping into the room in question.

He had been gone for a second the door opened and out stepped one of the Europeans, not the two men she had been hoping for. The creepy Englishman, Wade Barrett, looked at her as she stared at him with wide eyes, not in awe but in morbid fear. She didn't know him at all, or well enough to know that he wasn't a bad guy outside of the ring.

"What are you standing out here for, Lucy?" Hi voice boomed, at least to her. She took an instinctive step backwards.

"Just waiting on someone." She replied hastily.

"Ste's worried about you, you know." He said, his voice soothing down from what she was used to hearing. "Ste's a friend of John's, so he worries easily. Ste talks about you a lot. I'm surprised you haven't met him yet. Are you okay, you look pale."

"Oh, I'm okay. I uh, I had a meeting about what happened last night."

"It's all over the bloody internet. Have you seen some of the comments about your own brother?"

"No, I haven't. I don't have Twitter, or Facebook or any of that. I don't like social medias."

He hmmed slightly. Stu Bennett, that's what she remembered his name as outside of the shows. "Did Maddox at least get his arse nailed for what he did?"

"No, but management is thinking about changing my place in the show, since I basically work Raw only."

"That's good. I have to go, I'm on first tonight for the SmackDown taping."

"Okay. Be careful, please."

He smiled at her, charmed at her kind words. It's been a while since someone told him to be careful and rightly he liked that. Then Stu turned and headed towards where the gorilla and entrance ramp to the ring was located. Lucy wasn't aware that she had been seen talking to the tall Englishman, nor that it was one of the people she was looking for.

"You're a hot topic around here, Sunshine." Jon's voice said, causing her to look back at the doorway to the men's locker room. "You okay?"

"Frazzled, everyone wants to know details that I don't want to give out."

Lucy felt the heat come to her face and her breathing momentarily stopped as she watched Joe step up to the door tightening his belt, and not the Tag Team Champion belt either. He was shirtless, and slightly wet from the obvious shower he had taken. Her hands started shaking as Joe's gaze fell onto her. Briefly looking at his chest, Lucy looked back at Jon, who had this all knowing smirk on his face.

"Um, Nessa wanted to know if you two wanted to go out and do something with us." Lucy said, twisting her ring on her finger.

"What about me?" Colby spoke up from between Joe and Jon's shoulders. "I want to do something fun."

"I thought you had a girl back home in Iowa," asked Lucy while her face sort of scrunched up in thought. Joe smirked at that beautiful face and how she could act so innocent sometimes.

"I do but I can't go back this week. And a club is so redundant, don't you think?" Colby asked.

"Redundant? Have you been hanging out with Sandow or Rhodes lately?" Jon asked, looking at the younger man.

"What?" Colby sounded insulted. "I can be smart, too." He paused. "Sometimes."

Lucy laughed. "It's the start of summer and fairs are popping up around everywhere. How about we find one to visit on a day you're not busy."

"I'm so gonna win my girl a prize. That's a great idea, Luce. I think we have tomorrow off, there aren't any house shows for a few days. Tomorrow sound great for you guys?" Colby asked.

"Sure why not. It's not like we can think of anything better to do." Jon shrugged. "What about you, man? Want to take the girls out to a fair? I'm sure we can find a tunnel of love for us to enjoy."

"Man, shut up. But if you want to go, we'll go tomorrow." Joe smiled at Lucy, and that warm and fuzzy, and that nervous feeling came back to her stomach, shivering down to her toes.

"Great. Um, can I have someone's phone number so I can call about the details later?" She asked holding her phone out.

"Why don't you do it, Joe? I have to finish getting ready." Jon stepped away, practically dragging Colby with him. "You too, Little Man."

"Dude, I'm only like five months younger than you and you're only taller by two inches. Ow, hey, watch what you're grabbing!"

That left Lucy with a shirtless Samoan standing practically in front of her. The view made her mouth go dry and her brain go blank.

* * *

**Well here's another update. Enjoy.**


	8. Chapter 8

"So, are you going to tell me what happened?" Nessa asked as she and Lucy went back to Lucy's hotel room. "You've been strangely quiet most of the night. What happened at the locker room?"

"I saw Joe shirtless."

"You what now? And where was Jon?" The look on Nessa's face was priceless, regardless of how pale she looked at the moment.

"He was already dressed, sort of. He didn't have his trademark vest on. And when I mentioned that you wanted to go out somewhere, I suggested a fair. Somehow in the conversation Colby said he wanted to go, Jon agreed and made a comment about a tunnel of love to Joe."

Nessa squealed as Lucy unlocked the hotel room door. "I can't believe it, you got them to agree to go to a fair. I so love you right now."

Once both had put their things down in the room, Lucy fished out her phone from that purse of hers. It's not like she was expecting a phone call from Joe. He didn't think of her as more than a friend, which she was happy for. She wasn't interested in dating anyone, let alone Joe, at the moment. But that didn't mean she couldn't have feelings for him, feelings she hadn't felt in a long time.

"We get three very sexy men all to ourselves for a day." Her friend said coming out of the bathroom, not that Lucy heard her leave in the first place.

"Colby's taken, Nessa."

"I know, but it doesn't mean I can't look. Besides, my eyes are only on Ambrose. It's obvious that Joe likes you, a lot."

"No he doesn't."

"Girl, come on. Not to be rude, but you are blind? The guy is nuts for you."

"Who'd want me, Nessa. He'll just run away once he figures things out, once he knows everything then he won't want to have anything to do with me."

"Okay, that's it." Nessa took Lucy's phone from her. "There's still an entire night."

"Nessa, what are you doing?"

"Giving you a push in the right direction." Nessa said before scrolling through Lucy's contacts on her phone.

* * *

Joe was leaning back in his bed, thinking. The last time he'd seen her beautiful eyes was when he hugged her. It was a big step for him, he knew she was not used to being touched at all, by anyone male anyway. After the whole Brad thing he'd hoped just keeping his distance wouldn't make the pretty, no beautiful auburn beauty afraid of him anymore. Just seeing her smile, feeling her cheek against his chest and her small dainty hands pressed into the small of his back, it felt right.

He knew had to take it slow. She was shy enough, he didn't want to scare her off as he'd thought Jon would have by now.

"You're thinking about her again, aren't you?" Jon mumbled from the other bed in the room.

"Yeah, so?"

"So, you need to step it up. Maddox may not be the only one pining for the girl."

"And you are?" Through all of Jon's flirting, Joe wasn't sure if Jon was being an ass or if he was sincere in all of his comments to Lucy.

Jon laughed slightly. "Man, she's been with the WWE for over a month. If I'd wanted anything to do with her, I'd have already gone after her. She's not my type, Joe. And one of the reasons why I haven't gone after her is because I've seen the way you've been looking at her. When she's around, I'm trying to loosen her up, open her up. That's just me, you know that. I'm a natural born flirt."

Suddenly Joe's phone started ringing. Without even looking at the screen, he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Nessa!" He heard Lucy's voice yell in the background.

"He answered, just talk to him." Joe patiently waited, head tilted so that he could hear their conversation.

He heart swelled, if that was possible, when he heard Lucy's whimpering closer now. "Hello?" He repeated.

"Joe, it's me, Lucy."

"Is everything okay?"

"I was uh, wondering if you'd like to go somewhere tonight if you're up for it. To eat dinner."

Joe couldn't have been happier. "Sure, where would you like to go?"

"I like new things. Why don't you choose."

Oh, a challenge. "I saw an authentic Hawaiian restaurant near the hotel. How about that?"

"Sure. Um, I'm in room 229 on the third floor. Come pick me up when you're ready."

"Great, I'll see you then, Lucy."

He pushed himself off the bed, Jon watching him with a smile on his face. Jon liked that his friend was finally acting on his emotions, albeit slowly for the girl's sake. Ambrose knew that Joe would never hurt her, a quality he knew he had but didn't know how to control it. For him, he wasn't interested in anyone. Okay, maybe Lucy's friend Nessa, but that woman...he snapped out of his thought when he saw Joe preparing to leave.

"Going alone?" Jon asked.

"Yep. Don't stay up on my account."

"Don't plan to, man. Just don't hurt her."

"What do you think I'm doing? Actually Nessa called using her phone then handed it to Lucy. I guess she's just helping her friend."

That was an understatement. Nessa threw together a presentable outfit for Lucy. All the while the poor thing look absolutely scared. She stood in the room biting her lip while she watched her friend root through both of their luggage to find a certain outfit she had in mind.

"This is for your own good, girl. You need to live a little."

"And we all know how that turned out the last time."

Rolling her eyes, Nessa smiled at the shirt and jeans she laid out for Lucy. Now, what about the shoes? The shirt brought out her eyes, and the pants were black jeans. So upon finding Lucy's black and pink skater shoes, her attention focused on Lucy. Now what to do about that face.

"Dry your eyes, I'm going to show you how to make it look like you put a lot of effort into your makeup without putting much effort into it."

"Nessa, you're pushing it." Lucy warned.

"No, I'm kicking you in the ass for being so stubborn. How can you base your whole experience on something that happened a while ago? This man is an absolute gentleman, emphasis on the gentle. You have to give him a shot."

"Regardless of what my family thinks? They call Dean Ambrose my hero. You should see some of the texts my brothers are sending me."

"He's mine, you know that right?" Nessa asked grabbing her makeup kit.

"Yeah, I know." Lucy smiled slightly.

Once she had learned the fundamentals of makeup in five minutes, Lucy heard a knock at the door. Her eyes bulged slightly as she fretted with her hair in the bathroom because she knew instantly who it was. Nessa squealed in joy, pulling her out of the bathroom and motioned her to go answer the door. Fear crept into her lower belly as she wondered if Joe would really appreciate her effort.

And the first thing that entered Joe's mind when she answered the door...

Oh Damn...

"Lucy, wow. I mean...wow. You look amazing." Joe said, looking her over.

"Th-thank you. I...um...let me get my purse." She stepped back into the room and went to her bed.

Her butt looked good in those skinny jeans, Joe noted as he watched her from the doorway. Every move she made, he noted her nervous ticks like playing with that blue gem ring on her middle finger of her left hand, to pushing her hair behind her ear. That off the shoulder grey/blue top showed him the skin on her shoulders, or shoulder since it liked to fall a lot to the right. Joe fought the urge to approach her from behind, to lay a series of kisses on her skin just to have one taste.

Damn it, he thought swallowing. She made him drool.

"Okay, I'm ready." Lucy said, walking back to the door.

To Lucy, Joe looked good in those dark slacks and that button up satin blue shirt. He had his hair pulled back in a descent ponytail, and the cologne he was wearing was...exotic. Also his eyes seemed to darken in the lighting, making them actually look brown than their normal grey.

"She's in the bathroom, Jon. If I hear noises by the time I get back, I'm sleeping in your bed. The doors unlocked." Lucy said as she and Joe passed him in the hall on their way to the elevators.

"Thanks, Sunshine."

"Do you think that's such a good idea?" Joe asked as he pressed the down button on the elevator.

"I don't know, but the look on his face said everything. If he wants some, and she gives it, it's not my place to judge. I have my thoughts and morals, that's all I can say about myself."

The restaurant was about two blocks away from the hotel. Lucy and Joe walked in silence, not touching or anything. Joe knew she was scared, to be doing this alone was nerve wracking for him as well. It had been a while since he'd been out on any sort of date and this felt rushed, but still right.

"Jonathan?" Joe asked, seeing a familiar face.

One of the Usos looked up from the table where he and his date had been sitting at. Lucy knew her, this was Naomi. While she and Naomi had never really spoken, Naomi wasn't rude to her. It's just they didn't run into each other so often to get to know each other.

"Joe, what the hell are you doing here?" Jimmy Uso asked, standing up from the table. "Is this her?"

"Yeah, this is Lucy Cena. Lucy, this is my uce, or cousin, Jonathan Fatu. Jimmy Uso, and this is his fiance Trinity McCray, Naomi."

"Hi, it's nice to finally meet you two." Lucy said politely.

"Girl, you look so damn gorgeous. I mean you usually do in your skits." Trinity smiled, looking her over. "No wonder why Joe..."

"Hey, we're here as friends." Joe interrupted. "I didn't know you were going to be here. I wanted to show Lucy some of our heritage."

"Oh, these men and their heritage." Trinity shook her head.

"I like it. It shows that they honor their traditions." Lucy spoke up. "A lot of people don't take time out to know where they came from so that they can figure out where they're going."

Sometimes this woman just shocked Joe with the things she says. Joe smiled pridefully as she glanced at him. He looked back at his cousin, who was also impressed by the small woman he had brought. In the back of his head, though, Joe hoped she was sincere, this was the kind of woman he had hoped to bring to his family. His mother would flip.

"I knew I liked you. We should hang out sometime. Bye." Trinity smiled before Joe escorted Lucy off to their table.

The dimly lit restaurant was nice, and Joe had pulled out a chair for Lucy to sit in. The place wasn't fancy but it had a romantic vibe to it, especially for Lucy as she and Joe talked. This night was one of the best that she has had since...well in a very long time to the twenty-five year old woman. What could be better than good food and good company this night?

By the time they got back to the hotel, they were both tired but not of each other. They weren't holding hands, but Joe allowed to let Lucy hold his arm as they walked together back to the hotel. Lucy felt that she hadn't smiled this much in a long time, and it was Joe that made her smile.

"One time I hid Dan's cloths while he had gone to take a shower one day because he decided to rearrange my solar system science project I spent two weeks making. Then I took his towel, too." Lucy said, recounting one story of her childhood. "And no one believed it was me. Sean got the blame."

"My brother is like thirteen years older than me. But I have sisters closer to my age. It was rough because they always found a way to torment me growing up."

"You had sisters, I had brothers. Dan and I are the closest in age so it was mostly he and I growing up. I think John was jealous of this bond between Dan and I."

"Why?"

"Because John and Sean are the oldest, they didn't really want a little sister. When I was brought into the family I was the little girl and girls don't do what boys did. Girls were delicate, they liked dollies and Barbies. I had to grow up into my own person in a house full of men. Of course I was Momma's little girl and Pops' princess. But even then, sometimes in a house full of boys, I sometimes was forgotten."

"With your hair, I highly doubt that."

"Sweetie, you don't know my family. I can count more times than not that I had reminded everyone of my soccer and baseball games, but usually they coencided with one of the boys' football practices or game. I remember I had to ask my coach to drive me home, only to ball my eyes out because everyone else wanted to go to John's or Dan's football games than see me play."

They reached the door to Lucy's hotel room but she didn't open it. Joe watched with interest as she pressed her ear to the door, her brows furrowed as she listened. Stepping up behind her, Joe pressed his ear to the door and knew what she was curious about.

"We've been gone for two hours, you'd think they'd stop by now." Lucy whispered, looking up at Joe.

"Well, you did say if you heard strange sounds you'd sleep in his bed tonight."

"I guess I'm coming back to your room."

"Hey, I promise I am not going to try or attempt anything with you, Lucy. I've had the best time tonight, I don't want to ruin it for you." He leaned down and kissed her temple, rubbing his thumb over her cheek. "Come on, we've both had a long day and night. We have to rest for the day we're going to have tomorrow."

Joe led her down the hall to the elevator so that they could go up to his room.

* * *

**Another update. I'm getting there. The start was a little shaky, I know but I'm enjoying where this is going. I'm trying to update once or twice a day, as long as I keep up with this writing schedule I'm on. Well, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy this one.**


	9. Chapter 9

_She saw him. He was coming after her. Just like all the other times. He'd promised her he would get her. No amount of police or those close to her would protect Lucy from him. He would gt her like all the other times._

* * *

Lucy woke up.

Bolting up, she found she was in a different room than hers. She wasn't wearing her usual cloths, she was wearing a large shirt that fit her like a nightgown. Lucy looked around and she was aware that someone was in the bathroom taking a shower. The opposite bed was unmade, and as she thought about it, the night before came back to her. That, and her phone started going off again.

With the remains of the nightmare slipping away, she reached to the nightstand to grab her cellphone. John's ringtone, which meant he was probably wondering where she was, since she hadn't talked to him for almost an entire day now.

"Hello?"

"What the hell are you doing in Reigns' hotel room?" John asked, anger laced into his words.

"How would you know I'm here and not back in mine?"

"Nikki showed me a video of you and him going to his room together. Are you having fun?" That was a snide comment if she ever heard one.

"John, I don't know what your issue is. Nessa and I share a hotel room but I went out to eat and when I came back I heard some familiar noises coming from inside my room so Joe offered his roommate's bed."

"Vanessa and Ambrose were getting it on in your room? Where the hell were you?"

"I told you, I went out to eat. I came back and she was in the middle of something." Maybe it was Jon and the wall, she couldn't tell. "Besides, since when have you been so preoccupied with what I do anymore?"

"I'm trying to be your big brother."

"I have five of those, John. And nothing is going on between Roman and I, he's the one that's been there for me, him and Ambrose and Rollins. You said you would look out for me, but you didn't even hear me scream for you. No, soomeone had to do your job for you."

He heard her talking on her cell phone when he had shut off the shower. Joe listened through the door, and from what he could hear she was not in a good mood. She must be talking to her brother, Joe concluded while he dried his legs off.

"You have no right to say that. He's not like him." He heard Lucy's voice crack as it raised in anger. "You know the old addage, John. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Well here's nothing to ya." She clicked her phone and then proceeded to block his number. "See how you like that, you big jerk."

Scrambling to put his cloths on, Joe was able to act non-chalant as he opened the bathroom door. Seeing Lucy sitting up in the bed, the blankets kicked back and her creamy legs showing, Joe had to bite his tongue to keep from moaning. Just seeing her wearing one of his shirts, it made it harder to focus.

"Morning, Joe." He vaguely heard her say as she pushed the remainder of the blankets off her feet so she could get up. "I'll be right back."

Lucy brushed passed Joe into the bathroom, closing it securely behind her. He sat down on the bed and sighed.

He couldn't get what happened the night before out of his head, when he brought her back to his room for the night. Joe remembered how she shyly walked out of the bathroom in one of his oversized workout shirts, which came down to her thighs. She wouldn't look him at all as she folded her pants and shirt on one of the chairs in the room before she proceeded to get into bed. Her back had been to him, and he couldn't stop staring at her even as he lay in bed. A smile was plastered on his face as he watched her settle in under the covers.

"Goodnight, Joe." He heard Lucy say.

"Goodnight, Lucy."

His daydream was interrupted when he heard the door open to the bathroom. She had dressed in her cloths from the night before. It didn't matter to him what she was wearing, as long as she was with him.

"It's ten o'clock, we should see if the others still want to go to that fair." Lucy said as she looked at Joe, biting her lip.

"Sure. Let me get my shoes, phone and wallet."

Joe had decided to wear some jeans and a tank top that accentuated his arms and chest. He had brushed his hair back into a ponytail and it ended with a pair of sneakers. Lucy couldn't get over how big he was, he was so big to her that it was a wonder that he could be so gentle to her. Fighting her feelings between what she had experienced in her past and them now, she didn't know who to trust, her head or her heart.

A few floors up in the hotel, Colby answered the door to his room. He was shirtless, was wearing a pair of running pants and a toothbrush was hanging out of his mouth along with froth of toothpaste. He looked between Lucy and Joe and smiled. He appeared to look like a dog with rabies to Lucy.

"Do you kiss your girlfriend with that mouth?" Joe joked.

"Funny. What's up?" Colby asked letting the two of them in.

"Biding our time before seeing if Jon and Nessa wants to go out today." Lucy said.

"So PJ was telling the truth." The dual colored superstar shook his head as he stepped into the bathroom. "They got the room last night."

"I don't know how all of you know this." Lucy stated.

"Texting helps. That and he roomed next to yours last night. From the way he described it, sounded like a Banshee and a wolf getting it on."

"Pent up sexual tension, Lucy." Joe said sitting down in one of the hotel chairs.

"Nessa made a mention of getting Ambrose out of her system. I just hope she doesn't regret her actions. I'm used to people being concerned about me, I don't have what it takes to console her if this doesn't work out for them."

Colby laughed. "Love 'em and leave 'em, that's his motto. He's a nice guy, easy to get with but has his own issues with relationships. I don't know what they are but...I don't think I've ever seen him with a girlfriend in years."

"So you don't mind coming with Joe and I if Jon and Nessa aren't, um, up for it?" Lucy asked as Colby ran a towel over his face.

"If it's okay with you guys, that is." Colby looked at Joe when he spoke that.

"Today should be a fun day for all of us. Let's go wake the sleeping beauties when you're ready, Colb."

* * *

Nessa felt his hand gripping her hip as she woke up, refreshed. The ache in her head was gone, the ache in other parts were sated. Jon's chin rested on her bare shoulder as he pulled the blonde closer to him.

"Mmmm, you smell like sex." Jon said, brushing her hair off her shoulder, kissing the skin that was there for him.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" She glanced back at him.

"A good thing, Sweetheart. You know, we can have more fun today."

"Shit, the fair! We got up late." Nessa threw back the covers and bolted for the nearby leaving Jon in the bed, laughing.

Jon didn't ask as he followed her into the bathroom, earning a squeal of surprise from Nessa.

Lucy opened the door and peeked in, Colby looking over her shoulder as well. It was the sounds from the bathroom that told the trio at the door that their friends were up. Rushing in, Lucy went for her suitcase, grabbed a hairbrush, hair tie, grabbed a change of pants, a shirt, underwear and ran back out the door, closing it behind her.

"Let me go change. I'm keeping the shoes." She said as she held an arm full of cloths.

Colby, while Lucy was changing in Joe's bathroom, had gotten a call from Jon. "Well, that was Jon. He said they'll meet us in the lobby in twenty minutes."

"Okay!" Lucy yelled through the closed door.

"I thought I was talking to you." Colby looked at Joe, who was staring at his phone. "Hey, man, what's up?"

"Just threatening texts from Cena. Telling me he's going to kill me the next time he sees me."

"But you two didn't do anything, did you?"

"No." Joe sighed and put his phone away. "We didn't do anything. She slept in Jon's bed and I slept in mine. Also we have to travel to a house show Saturday meaning we need to leave tomorrow for the next venue."

"You won't be able to see Lucy until Monday."

"Sorry, man. I didn't mean...I understand where you're at with your girl."

The younger superstar waved him off. "Lucy's a good woman for you. She's nice, smart, a great actress but she has her reservations towards relationships. Do you know why?"

"No, I don't. I'm waiting for her to tell me. But we don't really know each other to talk intimate details." He stopped talking when he heard the lock on the bathroom door click.

Lucy came out of the bathroom while brushing her hair. "Thank you, Joe. These last couple of days I've had fun. Dinner was nice last night."

He smiled standing up and putting his phone in his back pocket. "Anything for you, Lucy. Jon and Nessa said they would be down in the lobby in twenty minutes. Let's go wait for them."

"Okay."

Lucy, Joe and Colby went to go wait for their friends.

Lucy hoped that today would be a good one.

* * *

**I hadn't planned on making John seem like a bad guy, but it sort of fits the longer I write this. Not only does she have Bella and Maddox issues, she has family ones, too. I hope you enjoyed this update. **


	10. Chapter 10

"I thought I told you to tell him to trim that ferrett off his face." Nessa said, approaching with Jon at her side.

"Um...I forgot." Lucy said, glancing at Colby, who appeared to be just as confused as Joe and Jon.

"What are you talking about?" Joe questioned, looking at the blonde woman.

"That! That thing that is inhabiting his face." She pointed a finger at Colby's chin. "It needs to be weed whacked, polished up and I am going to do that the moment we get back to the hotel."

"Was the sex that good?" Colby asked, glancing at Jon who shrugged.

"If she's like this, it had to have been."

"Come on, daylight is wasting away." Nessa stated, pulling Lucy away from the three men and towards the hotel lobby doors. "Tell me everything later. I want to know how your date went."

"It wasn't a date, Nessa. We had dinner, and then we came back. You were in the middle of something and I slept in Jon's bed not Joe's. I'm not like you."

"I know and we're going to work on that." Nessa smiled.

The fair they found was not as busy as they had expected. There weren't a lot of people who recognized them, which Lucy was fine with that. Yes she was on television, yes she could act, but then again, she wasn't famous not like The Shield was. Actually it was good to her that she didn't get recognized, not like her brother at least. And it gave Lucy a chance to get to know three men that had slowly started to become her friends, since Nessa was the one that acted like a sister to her.

"Roller coaster?" Joe asked, looking down at Lucy as she stared at one of the rides with wonder.

"Sure. That one." She pointed to one in particular, called of all things The Slingshot. "I've always wanted to go on one of those. And it's better to do it before you eat, you'll loose your lunch."

"We haven't even had breakfast." Colby pointed out, pouting. "I'm hungry."

"Yeah so am I. What about you, Sweetheart?" Jon looked at Nessa, who seemed to be deep in thought.

"Sure."

"And you Joe?" Lucy looked at the man next to her. "We can always come back to it."

"Yeah. Later, I promise." He said, rubbing her back slightly.

The five of them headed to the food court section of the fairgrounds, where all the different smells of the fair food wafted about. It was figuring out what everyone wanted to eat that differed between the men and women.

"This deep fried shit will kill you." Colby said as both Nessa and Lucy eyed the deep fried twinkies.

"I like new things, I like to try new food. It's only going to be one. Want to split it, Nessa?" Lucy asked. "Just in case one of us doesn't like it?"

"Better safe than sorry. Okay, I'm up for a challenge. Then I'm getting a burger and a beer."

Jon smiled at the woman as she flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. Confidence wasn't waning on her. Maybe he would keep her around longer, not just because she was Lucy's friend.

For the briefest moment Lucy felt brave to say what was on her mind. "Is Jon going to help you work it off later?"

"Oh My God, Lucina Edith Cena, did you really just ask me that?" Nessa shoved her friend slightly, who was smiling at her accomplishment.

Joe began laughing hard, his head back, his chest raising with each laugh he took. Colby was there with him, holding his side and leaning of the food stand. Lucy stepped back and grabbed Joe's arm, resting her head on his arm in a vain attempt to get away from any more of her friend's lashes. She gave Nessa a small smile as Jon draped an arm over Nessa's shoulders.

"Oh Sweetheart, I'll help ya anyway you want me to." He kissed her temple before leading them away from that food stand.

* * *

Colby decided that he would film the four of them together. He hadn't intended to but it was something he knew would come in handy later. It's not like they had noticed him pull back from them as they walked around the fairground. Jon and Nessa were sharing cotton candy, and Joe found out Lucy's absolute weakness, onion rings. This was supposed to be for the four of them, once he thought about it, so Colby came up with an idea.

The youngest member of The Shield smirked as Nessa whispered something to Lucy who shook her head no. They were at a wet pool fountain, Colby stood near a set of benches as Joe and Jon had been caught by some small fans. Nessa shrugged and walked up behind Jon when he waved politely to the children as their parents escorted them off. In the next moment, Jon was shoved into the fountain at the right time as a water spout shot up. He got shot straight in the ass, and then in the face. Lucy stood with her hands on her mouth, Joe was near roaring in laughter as Jon spied the blonde woman almost rolling on the ground from laughing.

Jon ran out of the spray of water, Nessa screamed as she tried to escape from Ambrose's pursuit but the smaller woman wasn't able to. He caught her around the waist and hauled back into the fountain. No amount of screaming and thrashing could get Nessa out of this bind. She became soaking wet along with Jon as he shoved her into the wading pool at the center of the fountain.

"Well look at that, he does have a sense of humor." Joe said looking at Lucy.

"She wanted me to do it to you. You're too big for me to move." Lucy admitted, biting her lip.

"Well, you're not for me."

"No." Lucy stepped back from Joe. "Please, no. Please."

The man with the camera phone smiled to himself as Joe picked Lucy up around the middle and ran straight into the fountain sprays. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, her face pressed into his shoulder as water rained down on them. Like a dance, the taller man spinning them around as he held onto the woman he was growing so fondly for.

It was a shock at first, but it felt good as the water seeped into her cloths. Pulling back she smiled at Joe, a real smile as he let her slip from his grasp.

"You big jerk," screamed Nessa as she slipped trying to get out of the center of the wading pool.

"Well you shouldn't have started it, Sweetheart." Jon said standing in a shower of water. "Payback sucks, doesn't it?"

Lucy and Joe stood near the pool laughing at Nessa's watery state. She slipped and fell right back on her backside, if becoming more wet was possible. Not that it didn't do her image any better, but people were filming the four of them behaving like over grown children. Lucy glanced at Joe who wasn't looking at her, he was staring at the blonde in the pool. She stepped back and pressed her hands to the middle of his back, shoving the bigger man into the fountain pool.

"Yeah, Joe, you shouldn't have started it." She smiled down at him.

"Good one, Sunshine." Jon smiled at Lucy.

"I'm going to get you both once I get out of here!" Slip, Nessa ended up falling into Joe as he was trying to get up, only to semi fall again.

"Same with me." Joe's voice grumbled as he was looking directly at Lucy with a predatory smirk.

"Not if you can't find us first." Jon laughed before taking off in one direction. Lucy took the opportunity to run in a different direction, leaving Joe and Nessa to figure out how to get out of the fountain.

Hide and seek in a fair, how hard could that be?

* * *

**Well there you go, hope you enjoyed this one. Thank you for your thoughts on the Nessa/Jon relationship. I'm trying to think of ways to get them to stick together while not making Jon the sappy love guy. One more happy chapter to go before drama starts to happen again. Thanks for reading.**


	11. Chapter 11

In hind sight running hadn't been the smartest idea Lucy had at the moment. She didn't know what she was doing by running away from a soaking wet Samoan. It was really like poking a hornets' nest. Lucy wasn't even sure where to go but she knew she had to find a place to hide.

Lucy found herself in the midway, where all of the games and prizes were located. She wasn't even sure how far off Joe was from her. Every cell in her body told her that he was hunting her. He was going to act out justice for what she did to him.

"Huh, Hounds of Justice. Now I get it." She said, jumping behind a stack of prizes that were near a ball toss game.

Joe had seen the direction Lucy had gone, but he lost her in a crowd. Course she was small, wearing a blue tanktop and her hair was up in a ponytail. How could he not find her. When he got to the midway he looked around carefully from stand to stand, walking slowly. He knew he couldn't scare her, she would never trust him again and that is not what he wanted. But the fun of the hunt was something to enjoy.

She held her breath as she watched him pass, his head moving from side to side looking for his prey. Lucy couldn't help but feel attracted to that serious concentration face. Hiding behind the stack of overstuffed teddy bears, still dripping wet from her fountain dance with Joe earlier, she knew she had to stay absolutely still or he would see her. It was like an African hunt, prey hiding from predator and the tension was there. She could taste it.

He walked by her hiding spot, not seeing Lucy as she spied his dark hair through the various stuffed bears in front of her. She counted to ten slowly, and then stepped around her hiding place. His back was to her, still dripping wet himself and that's when she realized that all his cloths were clinging to his body, to his muscular uppoer back to that glorious butt and those thighs. When he started to turn to look behind him, Lucy ducked back behind the rack of teddy bears hoping he didn't see her.

"Lucy, is that you?" She heard his voice coming closer.

She froze as he neared. Joe leaned around the stack bear prizes and looked at the small woman hiding between the booths. She was shaking, not from the wetness of her cloths but because he had found her.

"I found you, Babygirl."

She was breathing heavily, not sure of what was going to happen at this point. Joe saw the petrified look on her face, fear marring her beautiful features. So, Joe stepped back from Lucy, giving her space to approach him. Making sure not to knock anything over, Lucy stepped out in front of Joe, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Everything's all right, Babygirl. I'm not mad at you. It was all in fun. You shocked the Hell out of me by pulling that stunt at the fountain though."

"I'm sorry, I just thought it would be funny. I mean you did get me first. I should have hid in the car but Jon was heading in that direction." She remarked. "How do you think Jon is doing?"

"I don't know. It would be harder for Jon to hide from that blonde bomb."

"I thought it was bombshell."

"No, I think it's bomb. Now, as punishment for pushing me into that fountain," Joe grabbed her arm, turning Lucy towards him.

* * *

"AHHH!" Nessa screamed running after Jon.

They were in the parking lot, Jon having the bright idea to head for the safety of the car. He did have the keys after all. He was a professional wrestler, so a slightly petite blonde hairdresser wouldn't have been a problem fending off. Only he knew the consequences of hurting a woman.

When she threw herself at him, Jon easily caught her. He hardly budged at the impact of her body hitting his. It was the chase that riled him up. Never in the longest time had he had this much fun. Usually playing hard to get meant who was dominant in the bedroom. This woman was so off the wall it appealed to him.

"Well, Sweetheart, looks like you got me."

"Yeah, I do got you." Nessa latched her arms around his neck, having to stand on her toes to look properly into Jon's eyes. "Now what am I going to do with you?"

"After last night, I'm wondering the same thing." Jon raised his eyebrows at her.

For a moment Nessa faltered and Jon took her shock to his advantage. Easily leaning down, he kissed her. It was short, but it was sweet to him.

"Oh, you stoop to cheating now, huh?" She asked, giving her best mock glare.

"That's me, Sweetheart, that's just how I am. And a hopeless flirt."

"Well Flirty McFlirt Flirt, let's go find out what the other three are up to. But I'm going to do something to you later. I just have to figure out the right dose of punishment."

* * *

Colby couldn't find either couple. He'd searched around trying to find them but after the fountain incident, he wasn't so sure if he should even risk looking for them. It's not like they noticed him before, but that fact didn't bother him. Colby knew that they were taking things slow, at least on Joe's end. He wasn't sure, it's been about three days of knowing how cool Nessa was and Lucy was just this sweet little thing that walked into Joe's life, into their lives.

He turned onto the midway, intent on winning his girlfriend a prize. Male masculinity, it was what drove him to be good to her while he was on the road. She already knew about Lucy and Nessa, of Joe's hard labored attempts at not scaring away the small reddish haired woman, and Jon's new found interest in a hairdresser that dressed like a model from Vogue. He was intent on sending the video to her and maybe to others close to them. He hadn't decided yet.

"There you two are." He said, finding Joe and Lucy walking towards them. "I thought you were running away from him, Luce."

"I was but he found me. Now I have to give him a back rub later."

"A back rub? So you do really want her hands all over you, Joe."

The Samoan smacked the younger Shield member upside the head. Lucy jerked at the contact she heard, ducking her head and pushing a section of her hair behind her ear. When Lucy heard Colby laughing she looked up. Joe joined him in the laugh, making her smile nervously. She didn't have anything to worry about.

"Come on, Babygirl, let's go find our friends and figure out what we're going to do next around here." Joe said, placing his left hand on her back to steer her through the crowd.

* * *

Jon was snoring by the time he settled into Nessa's bed in Lucy's room. His head was in Nessa's lap as she absently played with Jon's hair. Colby had basically been asleep even on the car ride from the fair, now he was snuggling into the teddy bear he won for his girlfriend on the hotel couch. Nessa could see the fear in her friend's face as the Samoan stripped himself of his still slightly wet shirt.

Her face burned slightly, Lucy knew she was blushing and for good reason. It was just like seeing him shirtless back at the locker room, but worse. He was expecting her to touch his skin willingly. Joe slowly turned to look at Lucy and his heart broke at the sight of the petrified look on her face.

"Babygirl, are you okay?"

"I...I...I don't know if I can do this, Joe."

"Why? It's just a back rub."

"Maybe to you, but...I don't know. Do friends give each other back rubs?" She asked timidly, fiddling with the ring on her finger again.

Joe picked up her hands that were in front of her and moved them up to his neck. "I'm not going to force myself onto, Lucy, if that's what you're thinking. After the fun we've had today and the fact that my match at the taping was a little more brutal than normal, I just need some help okay."

He was asking for help, help that she was willing to give but didn't know how to. Staring up into Joe's eyes, she began cupping her hands on the part of the neck where it met with the shoulders, pulling slightly in her movements with her fingers at the same time. She felt how tense he was, the hard muscles that were possibly giving him a headache. She knew these pains well, having gone through college headaches and stiff neck muscles. She's just never given neck and back rubs before, she wasn't much of a touchy person. It occurred to her, Joe was the only man that she ever really touched for long periods of time.

"I've never did this to anyone. Tell me if I'm hurting you." She said softly, focusing on her hands.

Joe's answer was a rumbled groan. He was lost in the sensations of her fingers and hands kneading his sore muscles and how close her body was to him. She worked the back of his shoulders, pulling her fingers over and the down the from, racking her blunt fingernails over his pecks slightly. After doing this a few times, with all the small sparks she caused in his muscles, she gently turned him around.

This went on for a little while, his moans filling the quiet room as Lucy's hands moved down Joe's back. Nessa watched the two of them together from her spot on her bed. She was smiling, knowing that finally her friend was opening up slightly, even with all her reservations.

How long could perfect last for Joe and Lucy, she wondered as she absently played with Jon's hair.

After the fun at the fair, and a nap for both Colby and Jon, Joe decided to call it an early night for him. The back rub that he had gotten from Lucy was something that he would remember for the rest of his life. He'd enjoyed the feeling of her hands working the kinks out in his neck, his shoulders. He had to fight every step of the way to keep his 'issues' tampered down as she slowly worked his body over. She even offered a foot rub, which had Joe on his back in Heaven. She stopped at his knees but it was good enough for him.

"Joe." Lucy spoke up as she watched him from the open hotel room.

"Yeah, Babygirl." Joe stopped a few feet from the door since he and the other two were leaving to go back to theirs for the night.

"I never did get to eat that deep fried twinkie." She smiled at him before closing the door.

* * *

**Updated again. I'll be honest, I had a great deal of difficulty writing this chapter. It doesn't feel like it flowed with the last chapter. But I hope it's good for you, the readers. **


	12. Chapter 12

She wouldn't admit it, but Lucy missed Joe. Nessa was fortunate, she worked house shows, which meant she could see Jon whenever she wanted. Lucy couldn't see Joe for a while. He had that house show on Friday before he had to be at the venue for Raw and she had already left early Thursday morning to get to the next venue. Even as she went about the next couple days, she was bored. She was able to talk to him every evening since leaving on Thursday.

"The writers and management have figured out what they want to do with me." Lucy said over her phone, staring at the skit on her lap.

"What? We haven't gotten our scripts yet." Joe said, trying to lay still on his bed. Pain flared through his stomach before dulling out a little bit.

"The Shield comes out to pay some well needed justice on my behalf. Word for word. But then later in the show, Vince ends my run as Vickie's PA, at the request of The Shield. Won't my brother be thrilled about that." Lucy settled back on her hotel bed. "How are Nessa and Jon doing?"

"Acting like rabbits, otherwise good." He could faintly hear his friends from the room next to his.

"How long before they get each other out of their system?"

"Who knows." She heard him groan slightly, could hear the distinct sound of his neck moving.

"What happened? Are you okay, Joe?"

"It's nothing, Babygirl. Just a hard show today."

He wasn't going to tell her. He wasn't going to tell her anything about what her brother did, what Orton did. It wasn't the match that had bruised his abs, it was her brother and her brother's friend. It was after his house show match, Joe was in a part of the venue where no one was hanging out and he had just gotten off the phone with Lucy at the time. John had cornered him in a hall. Joe had acknowledged John with respect.

"Hi, John. How's it going?" Joe asked.

"Are you sleeping with my sister?"

"No, man. We've barely known each other not even a week. We're just good friends."

Orton had come up behind Joe, wrapping his arms around Joe's neck in a headlock, which allowed Cena to direct some well placed punches to his midsection. Three to be exact. Orton tossed him down, letting the young crumple to his knees, holding his stomach. Joe was left with a message by Lucy's brother.

"You come near my sister again, outside of work, you are a dead man walking." John had said, face inches from Joe's.

As John left, Randy had shoved Joe's head into the cement wall, not enough to cause serious damage but enough to earn him a headache. Colby had found him, luckily, doubled over and in pain. The once defensive tackler was brought to his knees because of his friendship with the sister of John Cena. No, he wasn't going to tell Lucy what happened. It would be too much for her to bear.

Lucy spoke up again. "Um, do you have anything happening after Tuesday's tapings?"

"No." Joe felt his brows arch.

"Because I got a call from Naomi, I mean Trinity and Jonathan. I'm not sure if he's talked to you, but he wants to meet up for a family dinner. He invited me along. I hope that's okay with you."

In a group setting, especially since The Usos were a face group, Joe thought it was a good idea. Joe wouldn't have to worry about John's backlash, but he still wasn't sure even on that point. He's told no one except Colby what happened, threatening the younger man into silence to not mention this to anyone, especially to Lucy. Joe liked it that his cousins had grown close to the shy girl. He was happy that Trinity McCray warmed up to Lucy fast and he'd been happy that she had finally befriended one of the divas.

"If that's what you want." He finally told the auburn beauty.

"Yes!" He could hear the excitement, true excitement in her voice. "Nessa and Trinity will be taking me out Sunday to go cloths shopping for the dinner. I'm not sure if it's black tie but it's not a casual thing. And I got another call from one of your cousins."

"Yeah which one?" Joe mused, thinking about his large family.

"Dwayne Johnson. I guess your family is really close, he somehow got my phone number and a video of you and I at the fair. Get this, he asked me if he could bring his ex-wife and his daughter to the dinner. I told him it's okay with me."

Joe knew he could listen to Lucy talk all day and night. After the trip to the fair, with a minor exception to the water fountain and sling shot ride, they'd all ended back at her room, where he'd earned his well needed back rub, he saw her changing. He saw how she was opening up, how she was a little more assertive and smiling. He lover her smile, especially if she was wearing her lip gloss.

Lucy was still on the fervent pursuit of friendship with Joe. She was well guarded, a little niave about some things normal adults would understand fully, but otherwise she was a normal person with odd interests. She could talk at length about dinosaurs as if she had been a paleontologist. She was a bookworm. He'd seen her go through at least four short stories on her Kindle as he, Jon, Colby and Nessa sat in the airport waiting for Lucy's departure. In no time flat he found out why Lucy liked to hold his right arm, so she could stare at his tattooed sleeve Joe had there. She was fond of the sea turtle near his wrist.

"Mom said that my eyes were as green as a sea turtles." She said looking at Joe in the face, a feat he rarely saw between her and anyone else. "I've always liked sea turtles, because they remind me of underwater dancers with how graceful they are."

Lucy started talking again over the phone, making Joe come back to the reality that he was in. John Cena, Lucy's brother, was out to get him because of Joe's bond with Cena's sister. If John wanted, he could have everyone in the locker room gang up on Joe at onces but considering that a lot of the others were friends and family with Joe, Cena wasn't going to risk a backstage scandal that could ruin his life with the WWE.

* * *

"Where are they?" She mumbled, looking around the airport.

Jon said that they would be flying in on Saturday after the house show, and she told them that she would pick them up from the airport so that they could have one rental to use. Lucy had been in a little bit of a funk for the last couple of days, her parents worried that she was getting in over her head with Joe. They thought the world of Jon, even though he was the psychotic person he was on television.

"You slept with a man you don't know..." her mother had said over the phone during one of many phone calls Lucy had received lately.

"I didn't or haven't sleep with him, Ma. My roommate wanted the room to herself that night and Joe offered his extra bed in his room." Not that she was going to tell her mother what really had happened. "He's been very nice to me and has not tried pressuring me into a relationship that I don't want. He's nice. He's kind and gentle. John has no right making Joe look like a bad man for helping me. You know I have more morals than that."

Someone spoke up, breaking her out of the memory of so many family phone calls. "Looking for me, Sunshine?"

Lucy turned quickly, seeing that it was Jon and Nessa standing there. Joe and Colby were approaching with their things. All of them looked worn out.

"Well, what do you have to say?" Nessa pressed her friend.

Smiling, the auburn woman hugged her friend. "Good to see you again, Nessa. You haven't killed Colby yet, I see."

"No, but I finally did get that ferrett off his face. Now it looks like a hampster." She smiled.

"I don't know who did it, but someone filmed her running after me with an electric razor. All the while threatening to cut off every single follicle on my body if I didn't stop running." Colby added, side hugging Lucy.

"And where were you while all of this was happening?" Lucy asked Jon before hugging him as well the same way.

"I was filming it." He grinned showing off the dimples in his cheeks. "Then Joe speared Colby and caveman carried him back to the makeup room."

"Why does this not surprise me?" She asked, looking at Joe.

He opened his arms to her, a motion that spoke as to what he wanted. Stepping between Jon and Nessa, Lucy instinctively wrapped her arms around Joe's middle, pressing her head into his chest. He smelled so good. And it felt so good. But the hug was different. With her hands pressed into his back she felt him stiff, as if she had hurt him. How could she hurt him so badly?

"Come on, the rental is waiting. I'm sure you three would like to go back to the hotel and crash for the night." Lucy said once she stepped away from Joe.

"Damn straight, Sunshine."

All of them were tired but Joe looked the worse though. Still, he refused her to help put his things into the rental SUV she had brought. She also noticed how he seemed to cringe when he would lean down to do something. What happened at the house show, she asked herself once everyone was situated in the SUV.

"Goodnight, Joe." She said, looking at the man as he and Colby got to their room.

"Night, Babygirl." He replied, leaning down and kissing the top of her head. "See you tomorrow."

"Yep."

Nessa and Jon were sharing a room together, this gave Lucy some time to herself. She'd been neglecting her passion as a writer, sure she'd done some things in the time that she hadn't been with The Shield but nothing substantial. Lucy sighed as she stared at the blank piece of paper while twirling a mechanical pencil in her right hand.

It seemed like life was always against her. From the start to now, it was giving her problems. Learning to deal with them was always the issue. Sports had allowed her to be more oriented with people, soccer especially. Working as a team, talking through that stuff. It allowed her not to be so timid around people, but mainly women. But it seemed like John was oblivious to his girlfriend's attempt at making her feel like crap. Like he was walking with blinders on at everything. She wondered if it had been the same with her family. The only people that seemed to notice her at all were Nessa, Joe, Jon and Colby. At this she considered them her true friends.

Then Lucy began to write. She recited the things that she knew that made her happy. Jon's oddball psychotic behavior, his flirtiness towards her when it was obvious that he and Nessa were working on something. Colby's childish behavior sometimes. Then there was Joe. No matter how big he seemed to her, he was always so gentle towards her. From his hands, to his arms. He was so accepting of the fact that she didn't want a relationship right now.

But is that what she wanted? Did she want something more from this? She didn't have a lot of male friends that she acted like this towards, not like she had with Jon, Colby and Joe. Lucy even found a friend in Trinity McCray, and Jonathan Fatu, and his twin brother Joshua. They were the first that she sent the sling shot video to, and from the sounds of the texts they sent her, they loved it. Big Booming Man Screams Like a Girl. Lucy hadn't so much as make a peep during the entire ride.

It was the fact that she hadn't known Joe for long and these feelings were so strong. When he started calling her Babygirl, it was even harder to tell him the truth. But she was fighting the obvious, she didn't want him to get hurt because of her. Yet it felt that he didn't forget about her, that he could listen to her about some of the things she was willing to talk about. Yes her family loved her, she's sure, but sometimes it felt like she was forgotten about.

Did she have the strength to really tell Joe what was going on?

* * *

**Yep, I'm evil. Randy as a bad guy now, I'll be flamed for sure. Trust me, there is a back story to that one. More to come soon, I promise.**


	13. Chapter 13

Sunday came, which was the day Lucy, Trinity and Nessa were going cloths shopping. In her hotel room, Lucy was getting ready for this big shopping trip, but she was also starting to get worried. Would whatever she chose in a dress impress Joe? Would he like whatever she chose for his family dinner?

There was a knock on her hotel door. Lucy was getting ready to go out to go cloths shopping with Nessa and Trinity for the Anoa'i dinner when she heard the knock. She opened the door and found the two women in question, smiling at her.

"The Usos and The Shield are going out to a gym while we go shopping." Trinity explained as Lucy went back to packing her purse.

Cell phone, pad of paper and extra pencil, Kindle and keys to the SUV and the hotel room, yep they were all there. She left with the two other women, both going on about which dresses that Lucy would look good in. Shopping, fashion and makeup had never really been Lucy's thing. She was happy that she had Nessa there to help her with all of this, especially when it came looking good for Joe.

"Are you that stupid that you need help looking for cloths?" The voice that spoke was a woman with a strange East European accent. Not Russian, Lucy knew, and she also knew who it was. "You are pathetic trash."

"Aksana, not so pleased to see you." Trinity remarked, crossing her arms and glaring at the other diva.

"It's not just stupid, it's stupid trash. Ugly trash." Aksana said, poking Lucy in the shoulder. It was apparent that she was more focused on Lucy than the others. She didn't care of the others heard her, Aksana just really wanted to make Lucy feel terrible about herself.

"Back off from her, Aksana. I swear..." Nessa warned, Jon's anger rubbing off on her at that moment.

"Nessa, you don't need to bother. Why fight words with a woman who can't speak proper English." Lucy spoke up. "Come on, I want to get out of here."

"You have no right to speak to me like that." Aksana yelled from down the hall.

"You have no right to behave like that. This isn't high school, Aksana." She looked at the diva. Nessa and Trinity nodded, turned and followed Lucy down towards the elevators.

They left the hotel. Lucy was proud of herself, she felt that she was right in saying what she did, throwing the hate back at the hater. Aksana was one, but there two identicals that she had to deal with and she was in no way going to confront her brother just yet. Small things like this was what she needed to work on. Figuring out where she and Joe stood either as friends or as more than friends would be more to work on.

* * *

"Teal blue, wow, that dress pops the color in your eyes." The diva said, watching Lucy walk out of the changing room

"Thank you for pointing it out for me earlier. I was worried I would look too pastey."

"Honey, that outfit contures to your hips like a real woman." Trinity looked behind Lucy. "Your ass looks fine in it as well."

"I'm worried with it being strapless, it could...it could fall."

"It's not like you're going to be dancing in it. You're doing to stop men in their tracks." The diva smiled at her friend. "Or man, I should say."

Nessa had gone off to look at some tops that she saw when they arrived at this particular store. Lucy, never one for fashion or anything like that, didn't even know what this trendy fashion store was called. All she knew that both Trinity and Nessa were excited to see it in Lexington Kentucky. Also it wasn't far from the gym where the men had gone off to.

"Trinity..." Lucy tried to figure out what to say. "How come I was never accepted with th divas? I mean I know I am not a diva or anything, but why wouldn't any of them give me a chance?"

"Honestly, Nikki said you were a complete bitch. You only got your job because John Cena is your brotiher."

"He was helping me out of a bad situation. I have anxiety issues, a social disorder and I need to work through that. To do so I needed to find a job but there was nothing for an English major. Ms. Stephanie said that I could work skits behind the scenes, you know. I had to act, which surprised me because I've never acted before."

"You are good at it. How did you and Nessa meet?"

"I was locked out of the locker room. Basically I found my stuff in the hall and I needed to change for a skit but I didn't want to change in a public rest room. And Nessa was really nice to me when she had done my hair and makeup before this incident. So I went back to the makeup room and asked if I could quickly change in there."

Lucy didn't like that day, it was the worse first day of the job she had. All others just accumulated over the time she was in the WWE. She heard sniffing, Lucy looked over and found Trinity actually crying, dabbing at her mascara that threatened to fall with her tears.

"None of this is your fault, Trinity." Lucy said. "You obviously didn't know."

"But I should have done something. I mean come on, I didn't stop the twins when they were making fun of you, in front of the other divas."

"The way I see it, you didn't add to it, yes you should have notified someone but so should I. I chose to ignore them because let's face it my brother is dating one of them. If I tell him, he'll make a remark to Nikki, who will have Brie come up with some sort of torture for me in defense to her sister. I just try to stay away from conflict."

"Well, I'm going to try to be a friend. After all, my fiance is your beau's cousin."

"Joe and I aren't anything." Lucy looked away from the diva.

"Not yet."

"Why is everyone so certained about this?" She was starting to get annoyed.

"Honey, you should see the way he looks at you. He's head and heels over the moon for you since just about the beginning of your career in the WWE."

"I've been hurt, hurt worse than you can imagine. I'm not saying how but my trust in men has been so tainted that I can't trust even my brother's friends. So please, don't push the issue with me." Lucy said walking out of the changing room, passing Nessa in the process.

Trinity looked at Nessa who shook her head. "I can't talk about it. I swore to Lucy that I wouldn't. Earning her trust is hard enough, getting to know her is even harder. She grew up well, but not without some problems along the way."

"Okay, but you do know how he looks at her."

"Yes, I'm well aware. She even went as far as telling him that she had been hit before. That ought to tell something."

"Oh I feel like such a bitch now. I didn't mean to push it with her."

"I'm working on her. She more assertive now, yes but she still has her reservations."

Lucy was sitting outside of the building, writing on the note pad she had brought with her. She was used to having people come up to Joe, Jon, Colby, there were a few little girls who wanted Trinity's autograph, but none asked her. She liked her privacy, she liked not having the spot light on her.

"Excuse me, are you Lucy?" A little voice asked, causing the auburn woman to look up from her writing. "Are you Lucy from the WWE?"

In front of her was a child maybe eight years old. Next to her was a little boy a little younger than her. Putting her pad of paper down in her purse, she gave both children her undivided attention. Their mother looked embarrassed when Lucy glanced at her.

"I am."

"I don't have a picture for you to sign." The girl said, looking embarrassed.

"Oh?" She asked. "I like to write a lot and I have some paper on me." Picking up her pad of paper Lucy flipped to a blank page. "Who do I make it out to?"

"Lucy, that's my name, too." The girl smiled brightly at her.

"Well that's a surprise. We share a name. How about 'To Lucy from Lucy, smile brightly?' You have a big bright smile that I like."

The little girl blushed at Lucy's kind words. She signed the piece of paper and gave one to the little boy who kissed her on the cheek. After posing for a picture with the two children, she waved at them as their mother escorted them off. She didn't see her brother walking towards her with his girlfriend.

"Lucy? What are you doing out here?" John asked, making Lucy look up.

"Just waiting for Trinity and Nessa to finish up with their shopping. I already paid for mine and decided to write out here." She didn't look at Nikki, who sneered at her over John's shoulder.

"Um...look I know I've been pushing this whole thing with Roman." John rubbed his head. "It's just...you chould do better than him."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Let's face it, Lucy. Wrestlers don't have the best relationship status in the world." John said.

"Yeah, you're the poster boy for that one. Who says that I'm dating Joe?"

"I keep seeing him leave your room, or you leave his."

"Nine times out of ten I'm with Nessa and the other Shield guys. True friends I might add. Look John, as it stands, my personal life is none of your business. What happened has happened and I am trying to move on with it by finding people that interest me, me." Lucy placed a hand on her chest with an emphasis on 'me'. "Not friends of yours, I'm not trying to ride your damn coat tails. Thank you for helping me on getting the job but please, how am I supposed to heal when you keep trying to make issues about who I choose to hang out with? When you turn a blind eye from my problems?"

Nikki scowled at her. "He's your big brother, he's just looking out for you."

"And you..." Lucy looked at her. "If you think feeding my brother bull crap information then you are not someone I would ever want to be associated with. This is my life, you and your sister can stay the Hell out of it."

"Lucy..." John brought her attention to him. "Don't bring her into this."

"How can I not when she and Brie, and Aksana call me trash. Call me ugly, fat, worthless behind your back and act like everything is peachy in front of you?" She shoved her things into her purse and picked up her shopping bag. "Look now, there are my real friends. John." She nodded to her brother and went to Trinity and Nessa.

"Is everything okay?" Nessa asked.

"Let's just get out of here. I don't want to look at or talk to them." Lucy said, before walking towards where they had parked.

As it stood Lucy was happy, even though a bit pissed off. How could John say that Joe was not good enough for her? How could he be blind?

* * *

**Thank you all for your support on this. Now is where it starts getting harder to keep a storyline going. I'm trying to get Lucy to open up more to John but still having to deal with the Bellas and her family issues. **

**Like I said this is where it gets hard to write a storyline. But I'm having some issues that you the readers might be able to help me out with. You see, for the next chapter I have written two scenarios that can lead the story in two different directions but I am not sure which one to choose. Maybe you can help me to decide on which to use.**

**Option One: When at Monday Night Raw, when Lucy confronts Maddox about him hurting, Maddox manages to hurt her again.**

**OR**

**Option Two: Lucy doesn't get hurt, but instead in between skits Joe asks her out on a date.**

**I'm not sure which of these to use. I've already written both of them out, and both are valid plot points but I'm having a hard time trying to decide which one of the options I should use. **

**So, you can either PM me or you can review you answer, I'll choose later tonight and have it up some time tomorrow. Thank you for all of your ongoing support in this story.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Option 2 wins, sort of. It's Option 2 with a twist. And this update will be in two parts. Enjoy.**

* * *

This was a big day for Lucy, she was going down to the ring for the first time in her short WWE career. Her nerves were on edge, she didn't know if she could do it without freezing. Trinity and Nessa were making sure that she would be prepared all day. It was hard for Joe to see her so uncomfortable, she had disappeared before the start of the show and no one could find her. Nessa insisted that she did this the first time she had to act. She's just scared, she needs to ready herself.

She was shaking, near panic. Lucy had found a back hall in the arena there in Lexington, just to get away from people. Tears fell from her eyes, and with shaky hands she pushed them away. Lucy sniffed as she rubbing at her nose. Suddenly there was a tissue being presented to her and when she looked up, she stepped back in fear.

"It's okay." Brad Maddox said, still holding his hand out. "I promise I'm not going to hurt you, Lucy. Everyone's worried that you just disappeared."

"I wanted to cry in peace. I'm scared." She said, taking the tissue from him, trying not to touch his hand.

"Yeah, we all get that way sometimes. I know I was half assed scared when I was brought up from FCW. I bet you can ask Joe, he had a similar entrance at a WWE pay-per-view. It's nerve wracking fearing that you have to follow the script and make sure you don't mess up. It's hard to think, I won't hesitate to tell you that. Sometimes you have to think on your feet, adlib a little but keep it clean. I'm not going to lie, Lucy, we all get like this. But acting is your thing. You can turn off your own personality and acquire a new one. Just do what you do, pay attention to Vickie and you'll do great."

"Um, okay." She nodded.

"I'm going to go before Joe..."

She saw it, on his neck. "Did Joe give you those bruises? Did Joe give them to you?"

The bruises she was talking about Brad were faded. Yet even though they were faded she could make out two handprints. It was as if someone had wrapped both of their hands around his neck and squeezed. He tried to cover them up but they still showed over the collar of his shirt.

Brad stepped away from Lucy. "No, no it's nothing. Joe or any of The Shield had anything to do with it. Don't worry about it, Lucy."

"If it wasn't Joe, was it my brother John?"

"Look, I need to go." His voice was shaking, he had this absolute fear etched on his face. "Just...just keep your head straight. You'll do good."

She watched him leave, sure that someone had hurt him into being scared. If he was telling the truth and it wasn't Joe, who would have done something like that? Just as she was thinking about it, Joe appeared.

"Babygirl, there you are. I was worried you'd run off." Joe said, rubbing his thumb over her cheek, getting rid of the remaining tears on her face. "Why were you crying?"

"I was scared, and everyone was starting to get on my nerves."

"Scared about going out there tonight? In front of the fans, right?"

"Yeah. First time out there, and I was getting cold feet."

"Come on, I'll walk you to gorilla so I can get ready for my part in the show." Joe said, rubbing her arm slightly. "Remember, I'll be out there."

He wasn't going to tell her. He wasn't go admit that he heard what Brad Maddox had said to her. He heard everything that was said, and it worried Joe that he wasn't the only receiving bruises on Lucy's account. Could there be more people?

* * *

When Lucy was called out to the ring she wasn't prepared for the reaction by the crowd. They were cheering for her, and she nodded at them from where she stood at the top of the ramp before taking brisk strides down towards the ring. She kept deep breathing, trying to calm her racing heart. Brad's words clicked as she stopped at the bottom of the ramp and she stood looking up at Ms. Vickie in the ring. It was now or never.

She knew from watching other divas by stepping between the bottom and second rope. It was a good thing she wasn't wearing a skirt, otherwise she would be showing too much. Lucy's appearance mirrored Stephanie McMahon, but she wore flats instead of heels. A grey pant suit with a red button down shirt. Her hair was back in a business bun, as she called it and Lucy knew that soon all of that was going to change soon enough.

Once she had gotten into the ring she recieved a microphone and went to stand in front of her employer.

"How's the arm?" Vickie asked, a tone that was snide. As she had to be.

"It's okay, Ms. Vickie."

"Do you know why I've called you out here, Lucy?"

"I think it has something to do with what happened last week, at a bar." She responded.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions and you better answer them honestly, Lucy. I have no place for liars."

Lucy's face hardened at that word. It had been repeated so much over the years it wasn't funny to her. Lifting her chin and keeping her face emotionless, she waited.

"Were you stringing Brad Maddox along since you've started working here?"

"No."

"Have you ever been in association with The Shield in any way?"

"No, that night was the first night I ever met one of them."

"Right, and I'm supposed to believe you. I mean, all you do is be a thorn in my side. Really, I should just drop you."

"May I plead my case, your honor?" Lucy asked, getting a good response from the crowd. "Do you know why I never came to you in regards to my issues with Mr. Maddox?" When she got a simple shake of the head from Vickie, she continued. "You are not a very approachable person. You know it, I know and Hell, I'm sure they know it." She pointed to crowd as it roared in approval. This is where she didn't have a script to go by, she had forgotten most of what to say in her bout of anxiety towards going down to the ring. "What would you have told me if I had mentioned that Mr. Maddox was harrassing me? I'm pretty sure you would have said something like 'It isn't my problem, you deal with it."

"Lucy..." Vickie warned.

"No, you listen to me for once, Ms. Vickie. Would you, would you have done that? Are you that kind of person?"

"Yes, yes, all right. Yes, I would have said that. There, are you happy now?"

"Ms. Vickie, I pride myself in helping you. I've gone out of my way to make you comfortable, at ease because of everything going on with you right now. Being attacked from all sides can't be that easy on you. I just wish I could have trusted you."

"Oh what, you're going to quit on me, because of one little accident you probably caused?" She all but squeeled at Lucy.

Before she could answer the familiar sounding music came over the arena. It wasn't The Shield's music, instead it was Vince McMahon's entrance theme. The energy in the building was almost too much for her, Lucy ducked her head as her hand tightened around the microphone. Taking a deep breath, so deep that her shoulders visibly raised, Lucy looked back up and stood in place while Vince entered the ring.

"Is there something going on here that I need to be aware of?"

"Uh...no, Mr. McMahon, absolutely nothing to worry about. Right, Lucy?" Ms. Vickie turned to look at the auburn haired woman.

"I'd rather not say something incriminating against either Ms. Vickie or myself, sir." That wasn't the line but since she threw the script out a while ago, it seemed plausible.

"Very well worded, Lucy. I'm impressed. You have the business flare down great. But, I'm curious, Vickie Guerrero, what are you going to do about this?"

"Do about what, Mr. McMahon?"

"Well, are you going to punish Brad Maddox for what he did?"

"Why should I, I mean it was obviously a misunderstanding."

"So you are going to keep Maddox and Lucy working together after what happened?" Vince pondered, looking at Vickie questionably."

"Wait, wait, wait! Mr. McMahon, sir." Brad Maddox called, running down to the ring. "May I have a word, please. Just for a short second?" Even as he spoke, it was hard to hear over the booing and jeers coming from the audience. "Please, can you hear it from my mouth yourself?"

Lucy stepped back, away from Brad. She knew what she had to prepare for. It was coming.

"You see, sir, Vickie, she's...well she's right. It's all Lucy's fault. She led me on, and I was drunk of course, but...well, everyone knows what happened."

A doctored version of the arm grabbing incident appeared on the big screen. The crowd got a rile out of this, and cheered as Dean Ambrose, in his street cloths, appeared and shoved Maddox off of her.

"I mean, look. I was not in the right state of mind but it's because she led me on for a month. Oh come on, look at her. The only reason why she's here is to screw around with the men. I bet she had Ambrose in on the whole thing."

And then the music she was preparing for came on.

**Sierra...Hotel...India...Echo...Delta...The Shield **

The Shield, in all their glory, didn't come in through the audience per se. They were already down near the front row ready to pounce. Brad Maddox had nowhere to run, they had the ring partially surrounded. Lucy zipped by Maddox so that she was standing closer to Vince since she was supposed to stay next to him during this ordeal. Ms. Vickie was stuck on the other side of the ring, nearer toward the announcer's table.

Lucy jumped when she felt the ring shake as the three men rushed it. She was awstruck. She had never been so close to her friends when they were known as The Shield. They seemed bigger, especially with their trademark vests on. Lucy felt her back press up against the top rope, preventing her from escape the normal human way. She was trapped in a four corner ring with three men that were beating the pulp out of one man. Do the math, this was dangerous for her.

When Maddox was given the Triple Power Bomb, the three black clad men stood over his prone body. Vickie had her hands over her face, and all three were staring at Lucy, smiling in a way that could turn water to ice. Vince was smiling, she saw it when she looked at the WWE CEO. One more conquest for The Shield. Next was the part that she was more familiar with.

Once backstage Lucy could finally breathe. But with all the jitters of what happened out in the ring, Lucy was shaking like a leaf. She hadn't realized that her three male friends had gotten back there until she felt someone touch her back.

"Hey, Babygirl. I wanted to ask you something." Joe said as Jon pulled Colby away by the front of his vest.

"Yeah, Joe?"

"I was wondering if after the show we can go out for dinner. As a date?"

* * *

**Also I want to thank benova13 for helping me. Your PM gave me an idea on how to go about this chapter. I also want to thank everyone for their PMs and Reviews. I'm sure I'll do it more often if I ever get stuck again. You know if you don't want to Review, if you don't feel comfortable doing it, you can always PM me. I enjoy getting feedback on my story.**


	15. Chapter 15

**This is Part 2 of my Update. Enjoy!**

* * *

"A date?" She asked, looking at Joe in shock.

"Yeah I mean if you don't want to then it's okay with me. It's just that I really care for you, Babygirl and I...I don't want to scare you but...I just..."

She grabbed Joe's right wrist to stop his rambling, smiling softly at him. "Yes."

"Yes, as in yes, yes? Yes you'll go out on a date with me?" She loved the way his face looked when he was both happy and excited at the same time. His eyes got lighter, nearly a sky blue.

"Yes, Joe. I'll go on a date with you." Lucy smiled, running her thumb over his wrist. "Did you want to go out to dinner after tonight's show? Or are you going to be too tired to go? Cause I understand if that's what you want."

"Dinner after the show will be great. But nothing fancy. We have the Anoa'i Family dinner tomorrow night. So, um, I'll meet you in that hallway where I found you earlier?"

"Sure. Um after our skit later we should ask the others if they can take our stuff back to the hotel, I know Jon and Nessa are planning on going back. I'm sure if we ask Jon really nicely he'll say yes. Even if that means taking Colby out to do something so that he doesn't bug Jon again."

Joe smiled, cupping her chin and turning it so he could kiss her slightly blushing cheek. "I'll see you after the show, Lucy."

"See you." She all but whispered as Joe walked away.

Lucy couldn't have been happier.

Joe was on cloud nine.

The only person that wasn't happy was John Cena. He had seen the exchange between Joe and his baby sister. No one outside of John's friends should be coming close to her. He was going to make sure of that.

* * *

"Hello, Lucy? May I have a word with you?" Vince McMahon asked walking into the scene where the skit was being held.

"Anything for you, Mr. McMahon. What do you need?" Lucy said putting her famous tablet down to give the boss man her full attention.

"Well, I feel that your services would be of better use elsewhere. Especially with the way Vickie Guerrero and Maddox have treated you, I don't think you should be working for Vickie anymore."

"And since you are her superior, you have the right to take my services from her at any imfraction, however small it is." Lucy pointed out, with a tilt of her head.

"Yes, and it seems that quite a few people here have requested you to PA for them. Like...Sheamus, Kane, Randy Orton..." Lucy had to force herself to keep from cringing at that name. "John Cena, Damian Sandow, just to name a few. But you see, I think you need to be safe, you also need a challenge. And with what happened last week with Maddox, I'm going to send you to a specific group of me. They told me where you can find them." He leaned in and whispered something into her ear, so that cameras couldn't pick it up. "Do you think you can find it?"

"Yes, I think so. Do you want me to go right now?"

He nodded at her. "Yes, I want you to go now."

And so she left the scene, preparing to go to the last skit for her that night. Just one more, she thought, before I tell Joe how I feel. She smiled at the mere thought, knowing that it was perfect time to tell him how she felt.

A cameraman followed her to an area of the arena where she needed to be. An unmarked room, with no name plaque on it. It was black, much like a lot of doors around here, nothing special to it. So Lucy raised her hand and knocked.

The door opened, and whoever was on the other side made Lucy gasp in shock. That's when a familiar gloved hand shot out, grabbed her by the back of the head and pulled her into the room before closing the door on the skit.

Lucy wrapped her arms around Joe's middle, pressing her head into his chest.

"Welcome to The Shield, Lucy." She heard him say, but it rumbled in his chest, making it vibrate in her ear.

"At least I know I'll be with friends." She replied as she watched Jon and Colby whispering to each other. "Um, is everything okay with you two?"

"Nothing to worry about, Babygirl." Joe said, pushing her hair off of her shoulder. "And don't worry about tonight, everything is handled. Nessa said she would take your things back to the hotel. Colby will grab my gear. Okay."

"Sure, okay."

But everything wasn't okay. After the show Joe went to meet Lucy at that hall where they were meeting up at. He had gotten there before her, knowing that Nessa was probably keeping her to get the info on their little date. Tonight was going to be the night that he planned on expressing how he felt for Lucy, how he really felt for her. He would risk their friendship if it meant that she would know how he felt about her. He just wanted her to know.

The Samoan paced a part of the arena where they could walk out together, into the night. Lucy was going to take her things to Nessa so she could take Lucy's things back to the hotel so that Lucy could head out with Joe from the arena. This part of the arena was unused, not even the workers came through here. Then Joe heard footsteps approach, but they weren't Lucy's. They belonged to someone else.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going with my sister?" Cena asked standing maybe six feet from Joe.

"Out to eat, John. Nothing special, definately nothing romantic." He was trying to defuse the on coming fight that was coming at him.

"You're no good for my sister. If I had the choice Randy would have put a ring on her finger by now so I can keep her close. But because she's autistic she's incapable of understanding that."

"Autistic?" That was the last thing he figured would be wrong with Lucy. She didn't appear to be autistic.

"Yeah, it's a social disorder. Why do you think she's so shy?" John sneered. "She didn't tell you?"

"I don't care what issues she has, John. I care for her. I care a lot about her." Joe felt his hands clinch at his side. "She makes me happy, I make her happy and it's up to us, not you, to decide what we make out of this. Come on, Man, this is just stupid. You can't make her do anything, she's a damn adult."

John rushed forward, shoving Joe up against the wall. "That's my baby sister, mine. Not yours. She's my responsability. I promised my mother that I would protect her. That only my friends could come near her. You're not." It was almost impossible to wrap one hand around Joe's throat, so he used two and pushed his body mass into Joe's chest with his elbows. "I will kill you if you put one hand on my sister again."

Planting a foot, Joe grabbed John's wrists and using his own strength, pushed Cena off of him. A test of strength. Ruthless Aggression versus a defensive tackler, the latter calling on eons of his ancestral anger and strength to back him up. Planting the other foot, Joe stepped forward, making Cena step back, squeezing Cena's wrists in the process.

Lucy saw what happened next, and she froze. Joe and John were facing each other, Joe had John's wrists pushed out from the sides, both men's arms shaking as they tried to out muster the other man. But what happened next was what scared her the most. She saw Randy coming down the hall, a look of almost pure anger written there. Lucy knew she had to do something and she acted.

"Joe!" She yelled running, using all her years of soccer to her advantage.

She hit John in his side, using her small hands to push him away from Joe. This shocked everyone involved, even Lucy as she stood defensively between Joe and John, as Randy came towards them. John was actually rubbing his left side where she had hit him directly in the ribs with her hands and because he wasn't aware she was there he hadn't prepared for it.

"Go away, John. I swear to you, leave him alone."

"This isn't right, Lucy, he's not right for you!" John roared, motioning to Joe.

"Then who is, John? Who is right for me? Tell me, tell me right now." Tears were finally trickling down her face. Joe could see that she was shaking all over, from anger, fear...just about anything that could describe this situation. He wanted to reach for her but he knew it could be dangerous, especially with Cena and Orton so close to him.

"I'm right for you, Lucy." Randy said. "Not some wannabe wrestler who hasn't even been wrestling all that long." He actually looked Joe over from head to toe, assessing him right in front of her. That sneer just made Lucy snap.

"Oh and you have so much to say. You pushed yourself onto me, Randy. I was sixteen and if Dan hadn't decided to come home what do you think would have happened that night?"

"That's in the past, Lucy. I'm a changed man."

"Yeah, a man with a ring on his finger and a child. Since you're taken and I don't double dip, give a straight up answer here. Why can't I choose who I am friends with?"

"You don't know who you can trust around here. Especially people like him." John pointed directly at the man behind Lucy.

"Come on, Man." Joe looked at Cena. "Did she come to you at all about the Maddox thing?"

"Well, yeah, but it's not like she knows harmless flirting or anything like that." John said, crossing his massive arms. "Friends leave her. I'm just looking out for my sister."

"I hate you, John. I hate you, Randy. I want to leave, Joe. Can we go, please?" Lucy begged Joe. She was looking up at him with big green eyes and just pleading for all her worth. "I don't want to be here anymore."

Joe nodded. He knew he had to get her out of there. Away from Cena and Orton, the two men that blew his chance at telling Lucy how he feels. He didn't want to add to the stress and as he protectively placed an arm around her shoulders he heard an ominous voice speak up.

"Your time is up, Roman." John said darkly.

"Joe." The Samoan replied. "My name is Joe Anoa'i."

Together, Joe and Lucy found the exit and left, his arm wrapped around her shoulders and her arm wrapped around his waist, gripping the side of his belt. That was her life line. He was her chain holding her together.

He was her anchor.

* * *

**Well there you go. How do you like it?**


	16. Chapter 16

The cab ride back to the hotel was quiet, deafly quiet. Lucy didn't talk about what had happened earlier at the arena. She looked withdrawn, she was pulling away...exactly what Joe didn't want. She tried so hard to stand up to her brother and his friend but he knew it was hard for her. Did she ever stand up to them before?

"I'm a liar." He heard her say finally. "A liar, just to get attention."

"Lucy...what are you talking about?"

"The downs in my relationship with my family are when they blame me for lying about stuff. The big things like what Randy did. Randy, he hurt me once, not physically but he came close. Randy was drunk, and he caught me in the kitchen, pinned me to the fridge and was kissing me. Luckily Dan had been home at the time and got him off of me. I locked myself in my bedroom for most of the night. Dan and I told everyone what happened but they kept saying that it was a lie. Randy is a nice guy, he wouldn't do that. Randy kept telling the story but it would change so many times until he finally admitted what happened. What's worse, no he didn't rape me, but it felt like it, you know. And then John kept him as a friend and I don't know why."

Joe did. Joe knew why John kept Randy around. John told him so, so that he could keep an eye on Lucy.

She played with that ring on her finger again, a ring he hadn't inspected closely.

"John told me something, Lucy. About you."

"What?"

"You're autistic."

He heard her laugh, a bitter laugh Joe had never heard from that small woman. As she pushed the tears from her face she spoke up. "You've seen some of the signs, Joe. But it's a yes and no answer. No, I have not been diagnosed with autism but I have symptoms of what's called Asperger's Syndrome. There is an autistic spectrum, high functioning which is what Asperger's is, which means that the person can interact with people but not on a social level. That's sort of my issue."

"Your likes and how they vary from other people. I've seen your song list on you MP3 player."

"Yeah, like that. I see the world differently. I find interest in things no normal person does. And it's hard for me to make friends, to keep them. My best friend in the world was a deaf girl who just happened to live like three doors down from me. She was my best friend until she moved away my senior year of high school."

Joe fought at the tears. She was hurting and he didn't know how to fix it. This wasn't something that he could understand. He'd never really thought about autism before.

"I'm a social leper, Joe. I guess that's why Ma and Pops insisted on John's friends being mine. I mean all my brothers had friends, but none of them were interested in being friends with the timid shy girl. I was more interested in my things, my sports and interests. It's just, I have been traumatized in my life and it really is hard for me to trust people."

"Do you trust yourself?"

"No. Not in that I am going to hurt myself but I don't trust my judgment sometimes."

Reaching over the table, Joe put his hand on Lucy's hand. "Some times all you have to do is trust yourself. Why did you trust me that one day when you were cornered by Maddox?"

"You were nice...back at the airport. You were interested in me and what I was doing as a writer. You have a smile that makes it so that I'm not afraid of you, and...you were handsome, still are."

"I don't know about that. But now you have friends with Nessa, Jon, Colby and me. You're starting to open up and stand up on your own. I can see it. You're happier, you are...you are beautiful to me, Lucy." He ran his thumb over the back of her hand in a clockwise circle. "Whatever you went through as a kid, you have no idea how much stronger you are now. You took that step the moment you befriended us. If it wasn't for you then Jon would be without Nessa."

"She's a spitfire isn't she?" Lucy asked, smiling at Joe.

"She keeps him on his toes, so to speak." Joe smiled. "You do the same, you keep me on my toes."

* * *

"I'm sorry about this date, Joe." Lucy said after the cab dropped them off at the hotel. "I hope tomorrow will be better."

"I hope my family doesn't scare you off."

"Why?" Lucy looked at him.

"Loud but I would say that you'd have to be careful with Simone, she's definately a hard ass like her dad. Dwayne's cool, he's a great guy, it's just that his daughter is a little bit unsure about people who we bring around, outside of our culture. She isn't a racist, she just wants people to respect our culture."

"Can you teach it to me, Hawaiian, Samoan...I want to learn and understand your culture."

"Come to my family's reunions. We get deep into our roots." When she smiled bigger at Joe, he smiled back.

Up at Lucy's hotel Joe watched her put her keycard in the door. When she opened it Lucy stopped. They had already said their good nights, shared a hug and Joe was heading to his rom. She had to, she had to know if it felt right. He had been there for her, stood up for her, she knew it was early in knowing him, but she just needed to know.

"Joe..." she quietly called out to him making the taller man stop. "I need to..."

Slowly he walked up to her. Her heart was racing. What if John was right, that Joe was not what he made himself out to be? No, she had to trust herself and she knew she trusted him.

"Yeah, Babygirl?" He asked.

"I want to try something at my own pace. A test. I want to kiss you, just to see how it feels. If it feels right, then it feels right. But if it don't...I don't know. I just want to...I want to know what it would feel like. Please."

Joe didn't say anything, except he placed a hand on the side of her face, cupping her cheek lightly. No smile, no humor, she thought he was going to laugh at her for being so stupid. When he leaned further in Lucy reached up to touch his face to cup his cheek, enjoying the feel of his facial hair scratching at her palm. She took a deep breath as Joe's mouth was micro grazing hers.

"Tell me to stop." He whispered.

"I wouldn't have asked in the first place." She replied just as softly, feeling her breath and his mating between the two of them.

It wasn't passionate, it wasn't heavy, it was a kiss, a simple kiss. He allowed her to take dominance, because he felt like she needed to take the lead. Joe knew he needed to earn her trust and as she experimented with kissing him, he lost his fingers in Lucy's hair just as she pulled back slightly. When he was going to ask if she was okay, she tilted her head the opposite way direction and tested kissing him at a different angle. Joe couldn't help himself, he felt the moan leave his throat before he could control himself.

She pulled back so suddenly, that Joe was frozen in place, lips still puckered up, his hand was still cupping her face and when he opened his eyes he saw how scared she looked at that moment.

"Babygirl..." but no question came out.

"You scared me for a second. I'm sorry." She looked down in shame almost, and that almost broke his heart all over again.

"No, there's nothing to be sorry about, Babygirl. I just got in over my head with the kiss. Was it okay for you?" He asked, bring her eyes back to his with a simple raise of her chin.

"Yes, yes it was. But...um. If we do this again, can I choose when?"

"We'll go as fast or slow as you want to, Babygirl." He pushed her hair from her face. "See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Joe." She smiled, stepping in and hugging him. "Thank you."

Both went to bed a little bit happier that night.

* * *

**Well, I gave it to you. I hope you liked it. Lucy is a complex character, I know. And she carries other secrets, secrets that's she's afraid Joe will walk away once he learns about them. So, yeah, I'll update soon. Thanks for all the support.**


	17. Chapter 17

**The Family Dinner Part One**

* * *

This was it, this was the day Lucy was going to be meeting some of Joe's family. His parents couldn't be there but his older brother was and it was scary for her. Really scary.

"You don't need to worry, Lucy. I've met the ill famed Simone before." Trinity said as she was getting ready for the dinner with Nessa and Lucy in Trinity's room. "She means well but she asks the hardest questions."

"It's not her I'm really worried about. It's all of them. I just want to make a good impression on them." She said zipping up her dress.

"Yeah, that can be intimidating. And trust me, Jonathan's dad is Rikishi. I got a Samoan sandwich hug from him, I thought I was going to loose myself in his rolls." The diva replied.

Nessa and Lucy just busted out laughing. It helped that there was another woman who was on familiar grounds with meeting the famous Anoa'i/Fatu family. And Joe did say they could be a rowdy bunch. Oh, boy.

* * *

"She'll be here, Cuz." Joshua Fatu said, looking at Joe.

"If she's with Trinity and Nessa, I'm sure they'll be making her look like Cinderella." Jonathan remarked.

The Anoa'i and Fatu family men were waiting in the lobby that Tuesday night, waiting for their dates. Well Joshua didn't have one, but Joe and Jonathan did. Since Lucy had the biggest rental that would fit all of them, they were waiting on her. But apparently she was experiencing what it was like to get ready with two other women who knew something about fashion.

"So you tossed the dice and asked Nessa out on a date?" Jonathan asked, looking at Jon.

Jon was wearing slacks and a button down shirt, his hair slicked back but still curled in the behind his ears and at the nape of his neck. He even shaved. Nessa had been swearing up and down she didn't want another Seth Rollins walking around, she didn't want to feel like she was cuddling with a ferrett. This odd ball of blonde hair was so intriguing but she was still a woman, a complete opposite to the kind he usually went for. He liked challenges, Nessa was no different. So he decided to ask her out on a proper date; that's why he was whispering to Colby back on Monday Night Raw. Jon knew how close Nessa was to Lucy and didn't want her finding out his plans for that night.

But Joe, on the other hand, was worried. Sure his cousins were starting to warm up to Lucy, she hadn't met his larger than life cousin Dwayne Johnson. Not to mention that Simone Johnson, Dwayne's daughter, was a little hard headed and open mouthed to accept anyone outside of her close knit family. It took her a while to warm up to Trinity as it was. Simone had previously given Trinity the third degree about everything, questioning why she did what she did. Mainly about dating Jonathan Fatu Jr.

The elevator dinged making the group of Samoan men and Jon Good look up. Three women, their women, stepped out all wearing dresses and heels. Trinity was wearing a vibrant off the shoulder red dress, that went up to her thighs, with black heels, and silver eye shadow that glittered in the light. Nessa was wearing a not as fancy dress, but it was pleasant enough for Jon to look at as it flowed down to around the middle of her thighs. She wore yellow pumps and a thin gold necklace.

Joe stared at Lucy in her teal blue dress that flared out below her knees. Her pumps were a light color, one that he couldn't make out. Her hair had been layered and fluffed up to make it look like she was taller, not that the three inch heels didn't do that already. She had minimal make up on but around her eyes were darker colored, popping her green eyes so vibrantly. Joe couldn't keep his eyes off of her as she approached him, biting her lip in a worried manner.

She didn't want to disappoint him. Lucy wanted to make an impression on Joe's family, to earn their acceptance of her, even with all her flaws. And from the look on Joe's face, she had accomplished looking beautiful for him, not that she needed any help in his opinion apparently. After their date last night, Lucy knew this is what she wanted to do with Joe, work on herself.

"Oh God." Joshua mumbled. "I never saw three men anymore speechless in my life. This is so amusing." He instantly pulled out his phone to commemorate this event for the rest of the family to see.

Lucy walked up to Joe. "You look good." She told him.

"So do you, Babygirl." He took her hand and kissed her palm.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy saw Jon and Jonathan giving their girls well needed kisses. If she was only that brave. Maybe she was, in her own way. Lucy took Joe's right hand into hers, pushed up his sleeve a little bit and then kissed the sea turtle that was apart of his sleeve tattoo. When she looked up, Joe was smiling from ear to ear. It was something he enjoyed, so she knew she had to do it more often.

Finally they were on their way to their dinners.

Dwayne Johnson, Simone and her mother Dani were waiting at the restaurant with Mathew Anoa'i, Joe's older brother. Matt had drove in from Cincinnati, since they were in Lexington at that moment. They were waiting for the group to get there, minus Nessa and Jon, who had a different date planned for that evening. Lucy found out that Matt was a hugger, he almost picked up the small woman off the ground.

"This is Lucy Cena, my friend." Joe said once the awaiting family members had been introduced.

"You don't look like John Cena's sister." Simone said once the larger man had released his hold on Lucy in that full body hug. She was thirteen, speaking her mind she got from her father apparently.

"Simone." Dani hushed at her daughter as everyone took their seats.

"It's okay." Lucy said, smiling at Joe as he helped her into her chair. "It doesn't bother me much anymore."

"Oh?" Matt asked.

"Yes, sir. The first time I was introduced to the divas, none of them would have believed me if it hadn't been for John introducing us."

"I'm guessing you passed Joe in the halls of the arena, that's how you first met right?" Dwayne asked as he sat on one side of Simone and Dani on the other.

"No, I had been working in the WWE for a month before we actually talked to each other. I was leaving back to Boston for a person matter and I met him there. I was actually oblivious to him, considering his size. I didn't realize that I had sat down two seats from him in the airport."

Lucy was glad she got to know Joe and his family a little bit better. She found out that Matt had a few good stories to tell about when Joe was growing up.

"He was about ten at the time. Our parents just finished getting the pool made before summer came. I know I tossed him into the pool a few good times." Matt said, taking a drink of his white wine.

"Don't you drink, Lucy?" Simone asked, taking a drink of her iced water. The adults were either drinking wine or beers, but she had never seen an adult that didn't drink at least a beer or two. Well, she knew about CM Punk, but a woman the didn't drink wine...that was strange.

"I don't, Ms. Simone." Lucy replied, chopping up a few pieces of broccoli on her plate. When Lucy called the thirteen year old Ms. Simone, the teenager was shocked. "I prefer water or Diet Mountain Dew. What do you like to drink?"

"Dr. Pepper mostly."

"What was it like growing up in the Cena household? You must have had a lot of fun with them." Dwayne told Lucy.

"I had my ups and downs when I was growing up. The boys didn't want a sister, this was an all male house, Ma was excited when she brought me home. My brothers saw it that girls didn't do what boys did, you know. They were interested in football or basketball, while I preferred soccer and baseball. Then half of the time my family forgot I even existed because I was so quiet."

"They forgot you? How can they forget you?" Simone didn't sound like she believed that.

"Five loud boys and one silent girl who never got into trouble, sometimes they over look things. Sometimes with my games they coincide with some of my brothers' games and practices. I would have to have my coach bring me home and everyone ask where I was. They thought I was home. This actually happened more than once."

"Reminds me of the time Mom forgot me at the grocery store because she had my sisters to worry about." Joe remarked.

"Aunt Pattie left you at the grocery store?" Simone laughed.

"Yep, she wouldn't let me leave her sight for a month." Lucy looked at Joe, smiling slightly. Under the table, she moved her hand and placed it on his leg, squeezing his thigh slightly.

"But I don't get it. Why do you not look like John Cena, if he is your brother." Simone brought that point up again.

"Simone, please." Dani looked at her daughter.

"It's okay, Ms. Dani. I guess it's okay for me to talk about it since we're all still getting to know each other. You see Ms. Simone," Lucy leaned against the table. "The reason why I don't look like my brother is because he isn't my brother."

"I don't follow." The little girl said.

"I was adopted."

* * *

**Well there you go, tell me what you think. I'm making this into two parts.**


	18. Chapter 18

**The Family Dinner Part Two**

* * *

Adopted? Joe couldn't believe it. This beautiful woman was adopted. Who wouldn't want this lovely woman beside him? All he could do was look at her in shock, noticing that she didn't meet his gaze, as it was focused on Simone at that point.

"Does Joe know?"

"No, not until now, Ms. Simone. I was adopted by the Cena family when I was about six years old. My birth parents, who I refer to as Mom and Dad, died in a drunk driving accident and I was in the car when it happened. I was five at the time. The Cena family took me in first as a foster child, I didn't have any other family so I had to go into the foster care system."

"A girl in my class is in foster care. She said one home hurt her."

Lucy closed her eyes. "I guess I was one of the lucky ones. My foster family decided to adopt me. Ma wanted that ideal little girl, she wanted that dream so badly but she chose the wrong girl in my opinion."

"How come?"

"Do you know fashion, Ms. Simone? How to apply makeup the appropriate way? How to put together a really great looking outfit to impress your friends or the boys at school?"

"Yeah, all teenagers should." She shrugged as she played with her napkin.

"I don't. I didn't care for dresses, still don't. Heels, or makeup...fashion sense wasn't my sense. I loved different things, differing sports. My birth parents were from Ireland, I can still remember my mom's Irish accent telling me stories at bedtime or singing me traditional Irish songs. I remember my Dad teaching me to kick around a soccer ball, making goals in our backyard. I loved his laugh because it made me laugh, too. But even back then, I was a little bit different. I loved animals, I loved dinosaurs. I was always different, thought different, behaved different. And John resented me because of that for a while. Mainly when I was adopted into his family."

"John Cena hated you?" Joshua asked. Joe was thankful it was his cousin that asked the question, he didn't have the strength to ask her that.

"He used to, at least. He would have been sixteen when the adoption was finalized. I remembered a few times I would listen to a heated argument between Pops and John at the stairs, hearing how it was stupid that our parents wanted another kid. Or he would flat out say it to my face that he didn't want me as a sister. It came down to one incident two years after I was adopted.

"I was eight, John was eighteen and just graduated from high school. As a family, we all went out to a lake for a camping trip." Lucy sighed, closing her eyes. "There was a dock on the lake and while most of the boys went off to go do whatever I decided I was going to see if I could look at the fish from the dock. John followed me. He knew I couldn't swim, and that area of the lake was deep around the dock. I told him I wish I could swim, so that I could see the fish better. He goes, 'I can help you with that.' Then he shoves me in. A legal aged adult shoving a small child into a lake. Yeah, I'm surprised he did it, too."

Trinity's hands covered her mouth in shock. Simone looked shocked as did her mother. The men had grown quiet.

"Luckily my Pops was there, he had seen what John did. But I hadn't come up, because some sort of underwater plant got tangled around my ankle and I couldn't get to the surface. I actually felt what it was like to drown. I felt the water enter my lungs, I could see daylight dancing overhead but I couldn't get to the surface. Pops pulled me out in time before I really did succumb to a possible death, and aside from some minor coughing issues for the next couple of days I was fine. But I didn't talk to John for about a month and a half."

Lucy felt Joe's hand slip across and take her hand. His silent praise and support for telling something like this.

Dwayne decided that Simone wasn't going to be asking Lucy anymore questions for the remainder of the dinner. Instead, they all switched gears to some of their own more funny childhood tales. Lucy was able to relax a little, even more when Joe reached under the table and took her hand into his. She smiled at him as Joshua was telling a story about a prank his football team back in high school pulled on him.

* * *

"Thank you." Lucy said. "This night has been great."

"Simone can be a hard ass, just like her dad." Joe said, leaning against the wall as Lucy unlocked her hotel room.

"It's okay, Joe. I actually like her. Opening up about my life like that, it helps. I'm glad your family didn't resent me for being different. It also helps to know that it didn't scare you away."

"Why would it scare me away?"

She let him into her room. As she took off her shoes Joe was already sitting on her bed.

"Because, my problems are a mile high and...honestly I thought you wouldn't want anything to do with me especially after finding out that not only was I adopted but I'm socially inept. I'm different. I have a lot of issues that no one will understand. After that incident with Orton, I just...closed down. I was sent to a therapist, who said that I was suffering from a traumatic break and that I had symptoms of autism, of Asperger's Syndrome. I think after that, it felt like my family gave up on me. I mean sure before it was tough, trying to live in a house full of males, but...it just felt strange. I felt like I was different, that I was the black sheep of the family. Another reason why I have social issues with people."

Joe hadn't said anything. He knew that she needed to vent.

"There was one girl who I told all of this to and she just totally abandoned me. She didn't want to be associated with someone who had a disorder. Soon after what happened between Randy and I, John was a different person, always looking out for me, trying to be that brother he didn't want to be at first. Dan though, he was my favorite. We play pranks on each other or find something we both liked to do together, something John tried but failed at. Dan would actually take time out on a Saturday to go out into the woods with me to go bug or critter hunting. We even found old Native American arrowheads. He would play into my imagination of being a Native American and surviving off the land. Stuff like that when I was little. But as we got older Dan became my confidant. It was like he understood and cared. Our parents...I think Ma gave up on the who ideal daughter thing when I turned thirteen and caught a bucket full of frogs and brought them back to the house." Lucy stopped pacing for a moment to close her eyes and take a deep breathe. "Ma and Pops never asked me what I wanted."

"What do you mean by that?"

"i chose to go to college to be an English major." She sat down next to Joe. "My dream is to write a book, a fictional book. That's what I want to do. But they said it was a foolish dream. That I needed to find something that would make money, that would support me in the long run. They still think it's a foolish dream."

"It's not, Babygirl. I know you can do it." Joe rubbed her back.

"i'm sorry." She looked away from him, the tightness in her throat threatening to cause another melt down of tears.

"For what?"

Lucy sighed. "For not kissing you like the other couples were doing in the lobby. I just didn't feel ready yet. I like kissing you, Joe. I just don't know if I'm ready for...that leap yet. To let others see us in a relationship."

"Lucy, if you think you're stringing me a long, no you're not. You've been hurt, I can tell. I can tell that you need to take it slow with all of this. Once you're ready to accept us in a relationship, I'll be there for you."

"Okay." He heard her sigh in relief on that fact. "I really did have fun tonight, Joe." She turned to look at him as he leaned on the bed with her.

They kept looking at each other. Joe decided he was not going to make the moves on Lucy. Her entire being was wrapped up in bubble wrap, afraid that something big and scary was going to pop her safety barrier. Joe closed his eyes as Lucy moved closer to him. First she kissed his left cheek, nuzzling it. He heard her giggle at the feel of his facial hair against her nose. Then she did the same to his other cheek, nuzzling it just the same. Lucy leaned up and pressed her lips to his forehead. He felt her sliding kisses down the bridge of his nose before kissing the tip of his nose. Finally she hesitated over his mouth, breathing slightly heavily.

"You don't need to do that, Lucy." Joe said with his eyes closed.

"What if I want to but I'm scared to?" She responded.

Tentatively she pressed a kiss to his waiting mouth. She froze for a second at the continuous assault of electrical pulses traveling from her mouth to her toes as she moved her mouth on his. She was testing her boundaries, lightly plucking at Joe's lower lip with hers. Moving from his lips she went back to his right cheek before moving down towards his neck. Almost instantly Joe's hand came up to cup the back of Lucy's head as she started pressing kisses over the large neck that the Samoan had.

"Babygirl, stop." He instructed.

"Why, what happened? Did I do something wrong?"

Joe shifted slightly. "Do you want an honest answer?" She nodded. "I'm getting very excited by what you're doing."

"Excited, oh you mean...Oh!" She backed off slightly, pressing a hand to her mouth. "I'm so sorry. Please. don't..."

"I think it's time we go to bed, Lucy. We have to drive out to that house show on Friday." Joe pushed himself up off the bed.

He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Lucy's forehead.

"Goodnight, Babygirl." He smiled.

Then Joe left Lucy alone in the room. At least he left with a smile on his face.

* * *

**Well, there you go. How do you like it?**


	19. Chapter 19

In the four days since the Anoa'i family dinner, Lucy saw a difference in her contact list. Besides Trinity and Jonathan, she had somehow started talking more regularly with Dwayne Johnson and even Joe's brother Matt. Also on the up and up with friends, Lucy started hanging out more with Trinity, and Ariane Andrews, the other Funkadactyl known as Cameron in the WWE. This felt good to Lucy, and Joe couldn't have been happier for her.

On that Sunday after the house show, instead of going shopping with Nessa and Trinity and Ariane, Lucy decided to see how The Shield worked out. Though Joe had said it would be a while at the gym, Lucy came prepared to keep her from being bored off her butt. That is until something caught her attention at the place.

She was looking at a white board, which was where people were writing stuff down on it, weird names and numbers from what Lucy saw. Even Joe was doing it, but Lucy found that Colby was the one who had the answers. "How do you know what these things mean?" Lucy asked, looking over at Colby as he was scribbling something further down on the board.

"I thought you were John's sister."

"I am, I just don't know what this stuff means." She replied, rubbing her forearm while trying not to look like a total dork.

He walked up to her and pointed to the words scrawled there. "These are the types of weight exercises we do, and these numbers tell how many we do each time. We try to beat our previous goals if we can."

"Oh, that sounds simple enough." She paused, thinking for a moment. "You're a high flyer, right?" Colby nodded as a way of answering. "Do you grapple as well?"

"Sometimes, yes. I use my speed to my advantage but as you've seen, it has it's draw backs. Considering like Jon's and Joe's tactics in the rings. Pound 'em and ground 'em."

Lucy glanced back at Joe and Jon who were doing a series of warm ups. "I can see it in Joe, with his defensive tackler background. Jon seems more at home running his mouth."

Colby laughed. "Yeah, I can see that one, too. Hey, why didn't you get into wrestling? It's fun you know."

"I'm sure it is, maybe for you. But...I've been told that it's no place for someone like me. I'm slightly autistic and with some of the things that have gone on in my life, well...people are hard to handle. I prefer to just do the skits."

"But you did hella great last Friday when you came down to the ring with us at the house show. You handled yourself real well then."

"Thanks, Trinity and Ariane suggested that they try to intimidate me with their dancing ring side. We worked it out like ten minutes before the match. And I was still having a mini panic attack at the same time. Who knew I could act and be scared to death at the same time?"

Colby draped an arm around her shoulders, guiding her over towards Jon and Joe. "Have you ever wanted to learn to wrestle?"

Joe looked up when he heard Colby ask that question. "Hey, Babygirl."

"Hi, Sweetie. Actually, maybe a little bit." She had turned back to address Colby's previous question. "I mean, with me getting more involved with this stuff, and having to be in that bikini contest next week, I might need to get involved with wrestling some way."

"Have you talked with your brother about this?" Jon asked, quizzically.

"I have as well as with Ms. Stephanie when she hired me for the PA gig. He was very adamant about me not wrestling, just me acting. But with everything going on, I wouldn't mind learning some stuff, like how to sell say a punch or a slap from another woman. I was hoping Trinity or Ariane could help me with that but they're not here."

"Well, we can teach you some of the beginning stuff on the mat over there. Like lock ups and side headlocks, to start with. We'll have to move to the ring for more indepth stuff." Jon concluded. "Right now we need to get on with our work out, Sunshine. You okay with that?"

"Oh yeah, sure, I'll move out of your way. I've got some writing that I want to do anyway."

There was a chair on the wall of mirrors where she had her stuff placed. Her familiar satchel was there waiting for her to open it. She traded in her Writer's Folder for a notebook instead. She was working on something that came to mind, but she wasn't really sure where it was going. The concept came around the time of Joe's family dinner. She just wasn't sure what the plot should be of. Maybe watching the guys would trigger something.

"Hi, Lucy." She froze at the deep voice talking to her. Fear edging into her chest as she glanced up from what she was writing.

The Shield was a fair distance away from her, too preoccupied to see that Randy Orton was there. He was wearing his work out cloths, Lucy assessed but usually Randy worked out John. So it was sort of odd to see that Randy was standing there alone. Though it was obvious that he only approached her when The Shield wasn't paying him any attention.

"I haven't heard much from you in the last couple of days. How are you doing?"

She shrugged. "I'm doing okay. Why are you so concerned, Randy?"

"Look, Lucy. I know it must be confusing to you, but John really is worried for you. He's looking out for you, that's all."

Closing her notebook, Lucy looked at Randy, tapping the notebook with her pencil. "Tell me something, Randy. Something has been on my mind for a while now and I want a straight answer from you. Did you put your hands around Brad Maddox's neck not too long ago?"

"He hurt you, Lucy. I was just looking out for your well being. I was also putting that little punk ass in his place."

"So you admit that you physically harmed Brad Maddox because of what he did to me. What's the reason behind hurting Joe?"

"Because he...I didn't do anything to Roman Reigns."

"You deny it, but you nearly admitted it, Randy. That's all I want to know." She stared at him, anger flaring up in her face along with a red tint to her flesh. "Who's business is it that I am hanging out with three guys..."

"It's not Ambrose or Rollins we're worried about hurting you. It's Reigns. He needs to learn that if you mess with Cena's sister then you get us to worry about."

"He isn't messing with me, Randy. What can I say or do to prove that he's nothing more than a real gentleman towards me? God, Randy, I don't even fully trust you anymore, I haven't in nearly ten years. I only put up with you because you're John's friend."

"We know what's best for you, Lucy." Randy's voice softened, like it usually did when he was trying to soften her up. But it didn't work this time.

"Oh now that's bullshit." Lucy gave a half snort as she shook her hair.

"See, that's what I'm talking about." Randy pointed at her, more like pointing out her sudden use of cursing. "You never talked like that before you started hanging out with Reigns."

"Oh so now everyone is so worried about me, as an adult. Where were the majority of them when I was growing up? Where was the support that I needed? How is it that I've known a guy for like three weeks and he supports me in everything that I do while all I get is heartburn from people like you?"

"Lucy..."

"No. You've said enough. I want you to leave." She pushed her notebook and mechanical pencil into her satchel.

That's when it happened. Randy glanced around as Lucy stood up from her chair. As she made to walk away from him, he grabbed her arm and turned her towards him. About ready to scream at him for touching her, Lucy gasped in shock as Randy's hands cupped her face before bringing her in for a kiss.

"What the fuck?" She vaguely heard a familiar voice exclaim from somewhere nearby.

There was Joe, mere feet from Randy who was feverishly trying to get Lucy to kiss him back. Lucy was struggling, scratching at Randy's wrists. She was in sheer panic, sheer and frantic to get away from him, as the memory of her being grabbed like that surface behind her tightly closed eyes. Just feeling his tongue, in a short term, molesting hers made Lucy sick. And then all of a sudden there was a roar, a man roar of sorts.

Lucy felt her shoulder connect with a nearby excercise bike as both she and Randy were knocked to the ground. As she was getting to her feet to run away, she caught sight of Joe hauling Randy up by Randy's shirt. But against all possible odds, like thinking Joe was going to demolish Randy at that moment, Joe didn't. Yes, he was seething, breathing heavily. He had placed himself between Randy and Lucy, preventing the older superstar to get anywhere near Joe's girl.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"Just showing her what it would be like to kiss a real man."

Anger, pure anger, leeched behind Joe's eyes. If the saying 'Seeing Red' meant anything, then Joe was seeing it right now. But a true man never acts upon that anger, especially with a beautiful woman and his career on the line. Randy knew this, not like he cared for chivalry or a woman's emotion.

"A real man doesn't cheat on his wife, who has his kid." Lucy heard Joe say as she wiped at her eyes.

"You're one to talk, Reigns. Have you told her yet?"

The question was dropped at Lucy's feet just like that. Randy smiled at Joe with a venomous glee before he turned and left the gym. Neither Jon or Colby dared to approach their friends, knowing that it wasn't their place to be at the moment. It was between Lucy and Joe, all it mattered now was who would be speaking up first. And it wasn't going to be Joe.

"Joe, what is he talking about?" Lucy found herself asking.

No longer was Lucy the only hiding secrets, but so was Joe. It was a secret that could make or break their relationship.

And it looked like she wasn't going to get her Intro to Wrestling 101 after all.

* * *

**Well, another chapter down. I had to write this chapter four different ways just to come up with this one. It felt like the story was dragging on and it hasn't been three weeks in the timeline yet. I know people want to see more romance between Lucy and Joe, but yeah...I'm still working on the flow of the story right now.**


	20. Chapter 20

"I used to date Brie Bella." Joe said, running a hand over his face.

There, that was the secret.

Lucy always thought she held the secrets, guarding herself from being hurt all over again. Bu apparently she wasn't the only one in the group that had something to hide, in shame and fear. It wasn't until later, after the workout had ended on a silent note, that Joe was able to tell Lucy what Randy had mentioned earlier.

Joe and Lucy went back to her hotel room, where they both sat on the bed facing each other. Lucy had her back against the wall and Joe was trying to compose himself. His hair was still wet from his shower Joe had taken after they go to Lucy's room. She was waiting patiently, noting that Joe was refusing to look her in the face.

"All right." Lucy didn't dare interrupt his attempt at being honest with her.

"We broke up around the time you came into the show...but before that I was a happy man. Then I let a Bella twin break my heart. Basically what happened was I had been dating Brie for about two months and everything was going peachy. Then almost suddenly it started changing. She'd want to go out with her friends more, that's fine with me, I didn't want to suffocate her with being around all the time. But then it got to the point where she didn't want to be um, intimate with me."

"She refused sex with you?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah. So then during one of the times when she said she was going out with friends, I followed her. She didn't even leave the hotel. Brie had taken the stairs to the floor above mine. From a safe distance I watched as she knocked on one of the doors.

Joe sighed as he stopped retelling the story. When he felt Lucy slip her hand into his, his grey eyes lifted up to meet her green ones. That was all she had to do, hold his hand to make everything okay.

"I'm listening to you, Joe." She half whispered as she cupped his hand in between her two smaller ones.

With another sigh, he continued. "I found her kissing Orton before he pulled her into the room with him."

"So when you said that a true man doesn't cheat on his wife that's what you meant. But what did Randy mean by what he said to you, 'You're one to talk.' Did you do something in return?"

"I was so pissed off, Lucy. I went to the nearest bar and drowned in my sorrows, drinking myself into a damn stupor."

When he tried to pull his hand away from Lucy she held tighter. She had no emotion on her face, aside from the large green eyes that were looking directly at him for once. He'd seen the way she set her jaw, but because she wasn't showing any anger he wasn't sure why she looked the way she did.

"I woke up to a woman I didn't know, in a room that wasn't mine the next morning. I left before she woke up. But Brie found out, she saw me leaving the room."

"So she found out you cheated on her. Did she deny what she did with Randy?"

"Oh that shit didn't go over well." There was a strain in his voice, Lucy knew that Joe was close to breaking down and she just held his hand waiting for him to continue. "She admitted to me that she was seeing Orton on the side, but she only told her sister the truth. She told John that I had cheated on her, that it was all my fault. The entire locker room thought that it was only me that cheated in the relationship. Well except Jon and Colby, and my family."

"Is that why John kept saying that you couldn't be trusted, because of that incident?" Lucy asked, reaching over and wiping a tear from his cheat with her thumb.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Then that's the main reason why my family is giving me a hard time about you." She concluded, mostly for herself rather than him.

"I'm surprised I didn't loose my job over this entire thing."

Lucy got up on her knees and moved around behind Joe. He felt her place her two hands on his shoulders, moving his hair out of the way. He stiffened when Lucy kissed his shoulder before wrapping her arms around his neck, resting the side of her head next to his and her knees placed on either side of his hips. This felt good, this felt right.

"We can work on this together, Sweetie. You know my trust in men is thin as it is. And you've been hurt, too. I know what Orton did to you."

"He didn't..."

"Don't lie to me, Joe." He soft voice turned to stone for a moment. "I know he was the one that left the hand prints around Brad's neck, he admitted it to me. But he screwed up when he almost admitted that he hurt you. What did he do?"

"He wasn't the one that hit me, Lucy. It was your brother. Randy held me from behind, letting John punch me."

She knew that John could be over protective, especially since what happened when she was sixteen and the one more recent than that. But to outright attack Joe when he had done nothing wrong...she couldn't believe it. Joe knew he made the mistake the moment Lucy pulled back from him.

"That's why you flinched in pain when I hugged at the airport after I came to pick you up." She said, moving off the bed to stand in front of Joe.

"I didn't want to tell you because I knew what sort of strain you had with John."

"It's already been strained. It would have been easier to know, for me at least, that you could have come to me about everything."

"I know. It's just..."

Lucy braced her hands on Joe's shoulders, pushing him back onto the bed while crawling up onto him. She had her small hands around his wrists, pinning them over his head. In the next moment, Lucy kissed Joe, silencing his attempts at explaining anything to her. If that's how she wanted to play, he was going to do the same thing.

Using his strength to his advantage, Joe flippe them over so that Lucy was underneath him, still holding his wrists as his hands rested on either side of her head. But the pure joyfullness emptied from Lucy's beautiful face, replaced by panic. She instantly closed her eyes and turned her head away from him. It was on instinct, really. But this scared Joe, because he didn't know what he did to scare her so badly.

"Babygirl, what's wrong?" He asked, moving off of her. She sat up before putting some distance between them. "What did I do wrong?"

"It's nothing, just an irrational fear I guess."

"Because of Orton?"

"No, that was almost ten years ago." She got off the bed to pace the room while wringing her hands together. "It's the reason why I came on the road in the first place. John didn't want me having to remember what happened."

"Babygirl, you can tell me, you know that you can."

"I was almost raped, and it wasn't by someone I knew, not like one of John's friends." She covered her face.

Now it was her turn to tell one more secret.

* * *

"I lived in Boston, in my own little apartment. I had this great job at a bistro where I served people their drinks and food and stuff. It's what helped me get my job now." Lucy said as she sat back down on the bed.

Joe sat down with Lucy but he didn't say anything.

"What happened was that a man began stalking me, he would follow me home from my job like three blocks away and he did it consistently. But he wasn't one of those stalkers you hear about, sending love letters that start to get weird over time. He just followed me, followed my routines and figured out what I did and when I did it. He was a serial rapist, one that had been tormenting my side of Boston for a while now. I don't pay attention to the news, it either depresses me or bores me."

She took time to organize her thoughts. Trying to remember what she had gone through not even a year ago and Joe let her set the pace with the conversation, not wanting her to freeze up and not say anything.

"Basically he broke into my apartment and tried to rape me, beat me up bad to begin with. I had one of my bats from my baseball days, when I managed to get free from him, I grabbed the bat and hit him over the head as hard as I could, just to get him away from me. Then I called the cops. Remember how I said that my family said that I was liar?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't know this person, but this man knew my family. He worked with my Pops. When they found out who had been arrested my parents didn't believe me when I told them what this man had done to me. But even when the evidence was mounted against him, they still didn't believe me. Not until it was learned that he was the serial rapist, then my family started believing me again. So John decided to take me from Boston and put me in my PA job, because it happened at my apartment and I haven't been back there since the attack. I've been having to go back to Boston to do some legal stuff periodically. I'm due to return to attend his trial in about three weeks from now. I'll have to take time off from work to do it."

"You have my support, Babygirl. You know that right?" Joe asked putting an arm around her shoulders.

"I know, Sweetie. I know." She leaned into Joe. "But there are still some things we have to work on."

Ain't that the truth.

* * *

**Well there you go, how'd you like this one? Hoped you enjoyed it.**


	21. Chapter 21

As Joe was zipping up the vest on his Special Ops outfit he heard someone approach at his left. Jon, who was also there, looked as well but stood straight up, his fists were clentched by his sides, which alerted Joe to a problem. That problem turned out to be The Champ himself, John Cena.

"I want to talk to you, alone." John said, mainly directing that statement at Joe.

The Usos looked at each other before moving off, yet kept their cousin within view. Cena wouldn't start anything in the locker room where there were people that Joe knew who would stand up for him. All Joe had to do was look at Jon and the other man left as well. Joe was alone in a corner of the locker room with Cena, both top dogs not backing down from the other.

"Have you told her yet?" John finally asked.

"Yeah."

John smiled at that answer. "She doesn't want anything to do with you, does she?"

"Lucy made her decision to still trust me. I have no reason to break that trust. She also told me the reason why she was given her job here in the first place."

"I figured you would have run for the hills learning she was autistic. Sticking through that tale must be hard to do."

"She's not autistic, but after all the shit she's gone through in her life, do you blame her for being the way she is now?" Joe questioned the older man, not impressed in how John automaticly thought little of his intentions towards Lucy.

"Fine, but if you manage to screw up again, I bet she wouldn't even want to be with you at all. You are a screw up, you'll always be a screw up. I'm just trying to make myself clear to you, you're no good for my sister."

"Let her decide that."

"Maybe I will."

What is that supposed to mean, Joe thought as John walked away, going back to the evil glaring Randy Orton. As he watched John leave, The Usos and Jon returned back to the corner of the locker room Joe was in, also watching The Champ closely.

"Where's Lucy?" Joe asked, looking at the others.

"Trinity is helping her get ready for the show in the diva's locker room. Creative wants her to have a new look while with you guys. And she only has a skit between Vickie and Brad today." Jonathan told his cousin.

"Thanks, Cuz. I need to go talk to her."

Joe left the locker room, dread filling up in his stomach. Did Cena have a plan to try to separate him and Lucy?

* * *

AJ squealed in delight as the auburn woman slipped on one of AJ's shirts. "Girl that looks awesome on you. It goes great with the pants Celeste gave you. That's the outfit, I swear, that's the one you have to do the skit in."

The pants Lucy sort of liked, because they fit in with The Shield's cargo pants, but the ones she was wearing was more feminine. The top was a simple black V-neck T-shirt that had a chain over the open chest part with a brass knuckle pendant hanging loosely over her bust. No longer was Lucy wearing her auburn hair up in a ponytail or a bun, it hung in loose layered waves around her shoulder blades. As Trinity, Ariane and AJ fussed over her look, off in the corner several other divas were watching them.

"No matter what you do, that bitch ain't getting any better." Nikki stated harshly from her place next to her sister and Aksana. They were near the opposing side of lockers, none of the three looked amused to see the small auburn haired woman standing in their territory.

Lucy wasn't going to let that woman ruin her time in this place. No, she was actually enjoying the fact that at least AJ and Kaitlyn were willing to help her with this new wardrobe change.

"She's sleeping with a cheater you know." Brie responded, a smirk playing on her red lips. She was enjoying this too much.

Trinity placed a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "Come on, girl. Don't listen to them."

"I know I shouldn't listen to Thing One and Thing Two, but this has been going on for as long as I have been in the WWE. You know what they started when I got here. Then they added Thing Three to the mix just to piss me off."

Kaitlyn and Alicia Fox busted out laughing. "Oh my God you hit the nail on the head." Kaitlyn exclaimed doubling over slightly. "You are absolutely right. Oh My God! Why did we ever buy into that crap in the first place?"

"We were being stupid. Honestly." Alicia said, holding her hands up. "I swear, they made you sound like a total bitch or something just because you were Cena's kid sister."

"She's not even his sister." One of the Bellas stomped up, this one being Nikki. "His family felt sorry for her because she lost her real parents. I mean, they didn't even know she was a autistic retard."

"Get your facts straight, Thing One, retarded means delayed, restricted process...if you think that people with autism really are retarded you need to look in the mirror. Look at yourself. Do you understand everything there is about everything?" Lucy saw that the red tint in her face was matching her lipstick, her anger was boiling over. "But I am not autistic, I was diagnosed with symptoms of autism, but I don't have it."

"Know your place in here, little girl." Aksana tried to step her way into the fray. "After all, your boyfriend cheated on Brie. She was wronged."

"Really? And you know this how?"

"She told me. She cried..."

Lucy's gaze turned to Brie, anger written on her younger face. If looks could kill, that Bella Twin would have been dead. "Yes, he cheated on you, Brie. But two wrongs don't make a right, especially when you were shacking it up with a married man. How is Orton in bed by the way? I mean if he's willing to kiss me in front of my own boyfriend, and our friends at the gym yesterday, what else is he capable of doing against his wife? I mean come on, he has a daughter for crying out loud."

The air was thick with tension. The Twins' true color was starting to show to the other divas and by far, this was not exactly how Lucy thought she would be fighting. She thought fighting might entail using her fists, but then again, fighting with words helps.

"Oh my god, you're a whore, Brie." AJ looked at the brunette divas in front of her.

"That did not happen. It was all Roman's fault." Brie tried to defend herself.

"Trust is not given, it's earned. Joe Anoa'i is earning his trust with me, he lost it to the locker room after you made him look like the big bad wolf. Maybe now he can earn that trust back from people like my brother once I tell John the whole story."

"You wouldn't." Nikki grabbed her arm.

"I know you're the reason why my brother got a divorce in the first place, Nikki." Lucy pulled the other woman's hand off her. "I've been called a liar from my Ma because she thinks you're this perfect woman, she won't even believe me. Well I got to tell ya, you've been had."

Walking out of that locker room, the beating in Lucy's chest about hurt. That panic of knowing what would have happened hurt so badly. For once in her life she felt she had the support of the other women, at least some of them. But what she needed right then was the support of the people she knew she could trust. Feeling for her phone that was in her pocket, she was going to call Joe. Except, he showed up not that far down the hall.

"Lucy!" He called out, his voice bouncing off the walls.

She ran to him, tears threatening to fall as she hurried up to Joe. He caught her in his arms, her face buried in his chest as her fingers gripped his vest in a vain attempt to hold onto him. Joe instant ran his fingers through her hair, pepper the top of her head with kisses. From down the hall, John witnessed this simple action, his mouth in a thin line as he glared into Reigns' back.

"Babygirl, what happened?" Stepping back slightly, he looked down at Lucy who was looking at him. "Is everything okay?"

"I did something stupid."

"What did you do?"

"I had a verbal fight with The Bellas and Aksana, and I pointed out exactly the kind of people they were. Told them about what Brie did to you. I called you my boyfriend." She bit her lip as her eyes dipped from his. "I didn't mean to tell everyone your business...but those three made me so angry."

"Babygirl, look at me." She did. "You called me your boyfriend?"

"I...I meant it. We're together, in some ways." Again she wouldn't meet his gaze, her hands holding Joe's forearms as his hands held onto her shoulders. "I mainly said it because I told them what Orton did at the gym yesterday."

"If you think I'm mad, Lucy, you're wrong." She looked at him. "You did the right thing, fighting for you, fighting for me. It's better than using your fists to make a point." He reached up and brushed away a tear that was creeping down her face. "I'm so proud of you, Lucy."

"I'm proud of me, too. I'm proud of you, Joe." She held his hand to her cheek. "I know I can count on you."

Colby smiled while staring at his phone. It was just too sweet to see her like this, looking at Joe the she did. Also seeing the pissed off look on John Cena's face was enough to take note. Jon nudged the younger Shield member.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Just documenting this for their children in the future."

"Oh, you ass...make sure you get Cena's face."

"Don't worry, I did."

* * *

**Okay, I have to say sorry. I decided to take a Me Day. I needed to think of where I was taking this story. I am really glad that everyone still enjoys it. I know there is something within this story, I just have to find it. I'm taking it little by little, so bear with me. I've never written anything this long before. Thanks.**


	22. Chapter 22

The Shield watched on from out of range of the skit, waiting for their turn to enter. It was later on in Raw, like towards the middle of the show, when Lucy's phone started vibrating in Joe's pocket. She had asked him to hold it for her, for whatever reason that was going through her head at the time, and he looked at it. A text from her brother, Dan. But it wasn't to Lucy, the text was directed at Joe. _Joe- Call Me ASAP_.

Joe deleted the text. Just as he slipped the phone back into his pocket, it was The Shield's turn to enter the frame.

"You want me to do what, Ms. Vickie?" Lucy's startled voice yelped, at which the on sight director motioned for the three men to prepare for their entrance.

"Next Raw, there is going to be a diva's bikini competition. The stipulation is, the winner of the contest becomes the Number One contender for the Diva's Championship. And you're going to be in it." The older woman clarified.

"I can't wait to see that." Brad Maddox added, looking Lucy over from head to toe.

"Excuse me, Maddox?" Dean said, appearing out of nowhere. "What did you say to our PA?"

The two tag team champions and US Champion appeared on the scene, Ambrose wrapping his arm around Lucy's shoulder and pulling her away from the ever looming Maddox. At the presence of the three men, Maddox and Ms. Vickie stepped away from them. Much to Lucy's happiness, she sort of stiffened at the contact of the man with his arm around her shoulders.

"Are you harassing her now, Vickie?" Seth asked, glancing between Lucy and Vickie. "Seems unfair."

"It's an injustice..." Roman's voice rumbled. "We punish those who commit injustice against others." He even took a step towards Maddox.

"Whoa, wait, gentlemen." Lucy movied, coming to stand between the GM, assistant GM and The Shield, facing the three black clad men. "We don't need none of that now. Thank you, but this isn't our decision to make." Her hand pressed against Roman's chest, preventing him from taking a swing at Brad.

"That's right, it isn't." Ms. Vickie piped up.

"And since I would rather keep my job with you gentlemen, I suppose I would have to do this bikini competition thing no matter how demeaning it is for me. I go down, do whatever in whatever and get out of there. It's less than likely that I'll win anyway."

"You're not beautiful enough if you ask me." Vickie said, making Lucy look at her over her shoulder. "She's pretty, but not beautiful."

"She's our pretty beautiful." Dean pulled Lucy back next to him, his arm coming around her shoulders. "Come on, Sunshine, we need you to do something for us."

"Yes, Mr. Ambrose." Lucy looked at Vickie and Maddox before walking out of the scene.

Taking a deep breath, it felt good to know she didn't have anymore skits to work on for the show. Lucy looked up at Joe who was rubbing her back. The Samoan knew that she sometimes had a hard time with skits, especially if she was surrounded from all sides by people. Since she started as the lowly little actress in the WWE, he had watched her from afar and saw the difference instantly when she was in front of a camera compared to being behind one.

"You did great, Babygirl." He smiled. "Oh, here's your phone." Joe handed the iPhone over to her. "After the show, Nessa wants all of us to go out to dinner before we have to head out to the SmackDown show. Did you want to go?"

"Um, sure. It feels like I haven't hung out with the entire group for a while."

"Great. See you there." He gave her a quick kiss before heading off to his place for the match he was in.

Lucy had about five minutes to herself before the peace was interrupted. Randy grabbed her elbow, making the smaller woman gasp.

"Lucy, I need to talk to you."

"No you don't. Get your hand off me." She yanked her arm free. "I want nothing to do with you."

"Did you talk to Sam? Did you tell her everything?"

"No. I haven't. Maybe word is getting around on it's own." She stepped back.

"If you said anything to my wife, Lucy, I will..."

"You'll what, Randy? Go ahead, do something. You've already done enough to me in my life that I don't even trust you, at all. I want you to leave Joe and me alone." She started to turn away from him.

"Are you threatening me now?"

"Yeah, I am. And if you threaten me again I'll just tell her myself. I may not prove what happened between you and Brie, but I will tell her what you did at that gym."

She left him standing there, shocked. Lucina Edith Cena had grown a pair, something he wasn't used to. This was bad, really bad.

* * *

Just what the doctor ordered, Diet Mountain Dew and a barbecue pulled pork sandwich. Lucy moaned slightly as she leaned back in the booth she had squeazed into with Joe, Colby, Jon and Nessa. Lucy's leg was draped over Joe's knee as she leaned against the wall enjoying the view of her friends with her. All were having a good time sharing a meal together.

"Oh, I got to tell you, Luce, I've got to take some time off from work. I've already talked to Jon about it."

"Why? When?"

"One of my cousins is getting married and I have to go back to LA. I leave after the house show on Friday but I won't be there next Monday in Miami."

"That's okay, Nessa. Trinity and Ariane will help me find a bikini for Raw anyway."

"You're okay with me being gone?" The blonde was floored by what her friend was saying.

"It's fine, Nessa. You should hear what I did in the diva's locker room." Lucy filled her friend in on what happened earlier in the night, since Jon, Colby and Joe had already known about it. "But I'm a little worried."

Colby swallowed his food. "Why?"

"After the skit earlier, Randy caught up with me. Someone told Sam what I had said back in the locker room. And he threatened me that if I were to tell his wife...well I cut him off and threatened him in return. I told him I would tell his wife about what he did at the gym."

Joe growled, his hands turning to fists on the table. It was one thing to threaten him, but to threaten Lucy. It made no sense that a man would threaten this woman who had done nothing wrong. Lucy's hand touched Joe's wrist, her thumb rubbing it slightly. She had this look that told him everything was okay.

"Sweetie, what are we going to do after tomorrow's tapings? I know you have a match for SmackDown but we aren't scheduled for any house shows this week." Lucy tried to get his mind off of Randy and back on something else, like her.

"I was hoping you could fly out to Florida with me. We have nothing until next Raw." Joe replied. "I can easily buy you a ticket tomorrow when we go to the airport."

"Well I'm heading home to my girl." Colby said, only to end up with Nessa throwing a french fry at him, which bounced off his nose. "What, I'm telling the truth. No need to start a food fight."

"I'll agree with you, Joe, if you promise me something." Lucy cut back into the conversation.

"Of course, anything."

"You have to take me to a theme park."

He groaned, actually it sounded more like an annoyed growl. "Which one?"

"SeaWorld."

Joe gave a sigh of relief when he heard that one. "Thank God. I mean...I..."

"I prefer to look at animals any day than cartoon characters. Besides, it's more interesting to me. Will I be staying at a hotel?"

"No, I have a second room in my condo back in Tampa. I was hoping you would stay with me."

She nodded, twirling the straw in her soda. "I guess I'm going to Florida with you." Lucy had the most serious voice she could have. Joe knew she would do this every once in a while if she was not sure about something.

"Don't worry, Hon, you'll have a good time." Nessa leaned across the table and touched Lucy's hand. "And if he does anything wrong, just call me. I'll fly over and I'll shove my stiletto up his ass."

A group laugh makes the hearts grow fonder.

* * *

**Eh...what do you think?**


	23. Chapter 23

**Warning: I changed the rating from T to M because of this chapter.**

* * *

To say the first night in Tampa was nice was a lie. Soon after Joe and Lucy had landed into the Tampa International Airport on Wednesday a storm started rolling through from the Gulf of Mexico. Lighting began flashing and thunder booming about the time they got to Joe's condo. Even though she tried to ignore it, Lucy couldn't.

One bolt of lightning made long ago memories flash against Lucy's eye lids. She shoved the covers back and ran out the room. Joe's room was right across the hall from the room that she was sleeping in. Half blind from crying and half blind from sleep, she blindly reached for the doorway and stopped herself, gasping as another flash of lightning lit up Joe's room. She saw him sleeping peacefully on his back, his left arm draped over his chest and his covers pulled down to his waist. That's right, Joe had been born in Florida, he was used to the summer storms that came through the area. She wasn't.

Joe felt the bed shift. He was still partially asleep until he felt a set of arms wrap around his larger arm and a face press into his bicep. Turning his head and having to push his hair from his face he saw the tiny woman next to him, shaking. Not from the cold but from fear. Lucy, his Babygirl, was scared, and he hadn't seen her that scared before, not even with what happened between her and Maddox or her and Orton.

"They died. Mamma died, Daddy died...the storm...the drunk man..." Her rambling was muffled, but he could still hear her words fairly easily.

She told him how during a storm in Boston, they were coming home from a Cirque du Soleil performance. They were going down a road and was going through an intersection when a drunk driver t-boned their car on the driver's side.

"We rolled, I remember flashes of lightning and glass spinning around. When we stopped it was raining water and blood." She told him, her grip on his arm tightened.

To shift towards her Joe had to pull his arm from her grasp and when he did Lucy latched onto his neck.

"Don't leave me. Please don't leave me." She cried.

And it broke his heart to know that she was afraid to be alone. He did the one thing to break her consentration and it was to press his mouth to hers. He fought with her mouth, showing his domanence for once. When she opened her mouth for him, Joe chose to guide her through with this new type of kiss for her. It felt good to Lucy, who tried to keep up with Joe in this primal dance of tongues. He was sure he would loose it if he wasn't careful, he would loose her if he took it too far.

"Mmmm, Babygirl." Joe said pulling back, looking down at her. "Are you okay now?"

She nodded, closing her eyes. "Thank you." She played with facial hair slightly, enjoying it's unique feel beneath her fingers. "I was being childish."

"No, you weren't. You're not being childish, Lucy. You're scared, you have every right to be. I'm not judging you for that."

Another flash lit up the room leaving Joe's face shadowed as he leaned down for another kiss. Then another, and another. Driven by instinct, and this new intense method of kissing, Lucy lost herself to what Joe had taught her, making her want to please him in some way. But Joe was driven on by another need, one that was different from hers.

Joe quickly found out that Lucy didn't wear a bra to bed, and Lucy found out through that first touch she enjoyed it. It was a simple act, an act to forget the memories she had gone through as a child, to gain new ones. No, they didn't go all the way with each other but Lucy found out what a good touch meant from Joe. Her hand came on top of his over her nightshirt, just to feel what he was doing.

They had finally gotten to second base in this relationship.

Lucy sat up and Joe watched her, thinking he had done something wrong. Grabbing the hem of her nightshirt, she lifted it over her head, put it down on the bed next to her and laid back against the pillows. Lucy didn't look scared, but she was on the verge of it. With renewed strength, Lucy brought his hand to her small breast, it wasn't tiny but it was barely in the B Cup range. She was self conscious about this, she had been told by the Bellas that no man wants a small woman. All her doubts went out the window when Joe leaned down and kissed her soft flesh.

She laughed at the feeling of his goatee touching her already electrified skin before she gasped at the feeling of Joe taking the nipple of her breast between his lips. This foreign feeling, this foreign pleasure, made up for her inssecurities about her body. And Joe was enjoying this just as much as she was. At the sound of a soft sigh and moan, he looked up at Lucy as she was playing with his long dark hair.

"Is this all right?"

"Yes." She replied, maybe a little strained in her voice. "It feels good."

Joe turned his attention to her other breast, keeping his hand on the one that he had tasted earlier. Her back arched at the feeling her Joe tweeking her nipple between his fingers as he sucked on her left breast. Her hand came up to rest on top of his as the other involuntarily pulled at his hair.

Soon, Joe abanoned his play on her chest as he started pressing kisses up to either shoulder while his hand cupped Lucy's side near her hip. To Lucy, his facial hair made the experience more intense, especially with her sensory being different from normal people, it was hyper sensitive to things like this new experience. When Joe's mouth met up with hers again, their tongues lapped at each other, like they were mating she thought as her fingers dug into his hair. But when Joe's hand began to dip under her the waistband of her shorts, her hand grasped his wrist, and she pulled away from him fully and actually shoving his hand off of her.

"Babygirl..." He looked at her in mild shock and curiosity as she placed an arm protectively around her chest.

"Please don't do that. Don't touch me there." Her voice quivered as she tried pushing him away further.

Everything was perfect until he had to ruin it, him and his damned sex drive. Not only that, he was painful down there and everything in his body told him to ignore her pleas to stop and take what he wanted. It was the animal act, but he wasn't an animal.

"I'm going to take care of something in the bathroom, Lucy." He said leaning over to kiss the side of her head. "You should try to get some sleep."

"Okay." Her voice was small, unsure...scared. He hated it when she was scared.

He blamed himself really, he got too far ahead of himself when he knew how scarred she was from previous men. As he leaned against the door, his hand moving against himself, all his thoughts were on pleasing Lucy, showing her that sex wasn't bad. Yet it dawned on Joe as he finished taking care of his needs in the bathroom, maybe that's what she knew, sex was bad.

Coming back into the bedroom, Joe found Lucy had put her nightshirt back on and was curled up in a ball on his bed. She was asleep, which was a good thing. With the storm dying off she would sleep through the night. Not wanting to wake her, Joe crawled into the bed behind her, keeping her back pressed up against his chest as he found a comfortable position to fall asleep in.

They slept like this for the rest of the night.

* * *

Lucy cringed as the sunlight streamed through the curtains of the room. She was alone, Joe wasn't there like she had thought he would be. Now sitting up in the glow of the morning sun, Lucy listened carefully only to hear the water running in his master bathroom running. He was in there taking a shower, so that meant she could go back to her room and change her cloths. That's what she did, she was gone when Joe got out of the shower. Joe didn't mind that she wasn't there, he'd figured she was going to go change. But he didn't know how fast she could get changed. And he forgot to close the door.

He tossed down the towel on the unmade bed and went to look for a new pair of boxers. They were almost on when he heard a shriek. That shriek belonged to Lucy. She had come back to the room expecting to see Joe mostly dressed but he wasn't. She ran away from the door, hands pressed to her face saying, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Joe."

"Babygirl." He called a few minutes later now clad in a pair of jeans but nothing else. He wanted to see if Lucy was okay. She wasn't in the guest room, nor was she locked in the other bathroom or in the living room. "Where are you, Lucy?" His question was still unanswered.

She stood in the kitchen, looking out the small window that had a good view of the ocean. She was white from embarrassment, which made it even harder for Joe to not fall further in love with her.

"Babygirl, there you are." When he spoke he saw her head hang. "Don't be embarrassed, Lucy. Accidents happen."

It was seeing him O-Natural that scared her. She had never seen a man naked before, she didn't understand the ins and outs of sex, except that it broke up marriages and relationships if used wrongly. Her Ma kept her from that course in school, saying that it wasn't anything that she was going to do until she was married. Sex between John and Nikki broke up John's marriage to Liz, and that incident between Joe and Brie was still freshly implanted in her brain. Would that be the outcome of her relationship with Joe? Would it just be about sex?

"I'm not mad at you, Babygirl." Joe touched her shoulder slightly, making her flinch from his hand. "Hey, come on, what is it?"

"I don't understand it, Joe."

"What, what don't you understand."

"Sex, yes I know what it is, how it works, but I don't understand it. My life was full of people trying to use sex to control me, Orton, that serial rapist...but last night...it didn't feel like that. What little we did, it didn't feel like that. I don't understand that."

"You've never had sex before, have you?"

"No, I haven't. Ma told me that I was going to save myself for marriage, that I would only learn about it at that time from my husband. She didn't want school to teach me that subject. I've never seen a naked man before and from what I saw of you..." she let the statement die there.

"Pretty impressive aren't I?"

Still not being able to look at him, Lucy bit her lip as she fought the laughter and the tears of embarrassment.

"Babygirl, look at me." Joe took her chin and turned it so that she was looking up at him. "What happened last night, I won't forget. It's better to remember being loved than to be scared. I know I overstepped my boundaries and I'm sorry I even started it in the first place."

"No, I liked that part, you touching my breasts. I liked it as much as you did but I couldn't bring myself to go further than that." She looked away from him.

"Tell you what, I think we've all had enough embarrassment for one morning. How about we go to this nice coffee shop nearby and get some breakfast? I'll take you on a walk of the area. We can go down to the beach together." He ran a thumb over the apple of her cheek.

"Okay, let me go find my shoes and let me brush my hair." She tiptoed to give Joe a peck on the lips. "I'll be right back."

He couldn't help but watch her walk away, especially in those jeans.

Again the animal in him was threatening to show.

* * *

**Um, yeah, how did you like it? I have never written M rated anything before. I'm trying to show Lucy's issues with sex and how it had effected her personality in life. I'll try other chapters further a long in Lucy and Joe's relationship.**


	24. Chapter 24

Around ten o'clock they were both down on the beach, carrying their shoes and enjoying the sand between their toes. With shoes in one hand and their hands clasped together, Joe and Lucy walked through the tide waters, watching the sea gulls take flight as they neared. The beach wasn't but five to ten minute of a walk from Joe's condo.

"I liked the breakfast. That pumpkin muffin was great." Lucy said, looking up at Joe. "Thank you for such a good morning, even with..."

"Don't worry about it, Lucy. I'm trying to treat you good, so Nessa doesn't find a reason to stuff a Prada pump up my ass." He laughed at that inside joke.

"Actually she declared Zanotti, and some of their shoes have scary styles to them." Lucy told him. "Can I go out a little further into the water?"

"Sure, Babygirl." He let her hand go after kissing her knuckles.

The beach made Lucy happy. While Joe watched her off in the distance, he remembered he'd forgotten to call Lucy's brother Dan after the last couple of days. Was it too late to do that now? Since Lucy had given Joe her phone to hold while she went to go step into the ocean a little ways, Joe used her phone to find Dan's number to call him.

"Hello?" A guy answered on the third ring. "Luce is that you?"

"No, it's Joe. Sorry, I didn't have time to call you back." Joe said unsure of where this brother in particular stood on Joe's and Lucy's relationship.

"It's fine, Man. I called because I need you to do me a favor. It deals with Lucy."

"That depends, I guess."

"I want you to get Lucy to West Newbury for my wife's surprise baby shower."

Joe looked up, keeping an eye on Lucy. She was knee deep in the surf and running her hands through the sea foam. "Surprise for who, Lucy or your wife?"

"For Lucy. We want it to be a family ordeal, to surprise everyone but...Christi wants you there and I know the only way to get Lucy there is to have you there. I wouldn't mind John's ass getting kicked, even if it is in front of my parents."

Oh, Joe liked Dan already. "Look, I'll try. When is it and I'll try to get her there."

"When the WWE comes through Boston in two weeks. We're making a family deal out of it, it's about the only time we can get everyone together."

"Listen, don't watch Raw, your sister will be in a bikini and...gotta go, she coming out of the ocean." Joe advised quickly seeing Lucy walk back towards him.

"What?" Dan gave a startled yelp but Joe cut off the call and slipped the phone into his pocket.

"Hey," Lucy was breathing deeply, her shorts clinging to her legs and part of her shirt was wet as well. "Who was on the phone?"

"Just Nessa checking up on you, again. You really do have a sister in her don't you?" Joe smiled, leaning down to kiss her. "Yum, you taste like the ocean."

"Thanks. It was fun but I didn't want to go out too far. I still don't know how to swim."

"That's right. You know there's a pool back at the condo, I can always teach you to swim there."

"I don't know...you know my history with the water, Joe."

He rubbed her arm slowly. "That's why we start in the shallow end and work our way to the deep end. It's all about getting your arms and legs doing the right thing together to keep you from sinking. How about after lunch some time today we go down to the pool and start the lessons."

She nodded, smiling brightly like the sun off the ocean behind her.

* * *

There was an issue, Lucy didn't know what to do. Not that she ever swam before, she refused to swim especially after the age of eight when John pushed her into the lake. Lucy stared at the water of the pool, her hands cupped up under her chin as Joe stood about waist deep in the water holding his hand out to her.

"Babygirl, you're going to have to get in." He said, taking a few steps closer to the steps in front of him. "We're going to take it slow, okay. Just wade into the water like you did at the beach."

After taking that deep breath, she grabbed the pool railing and started down the steps into the water. Joe was right, it was like back at the ocean, less risk of being swept out to sea than in was in a pool. She could handle three feet of water, that was the easy part. When she was close enough to Joe, she grabbed his hand just in time because the slickness of the pool made her foot slip.

He caught her up against his chest, holding her there, smiling softly at her. "Don't worry, I got you." He help her stand up again. "In this deep of water you have the control because your head is above water. I think what the problem is for you, is having your head under water."

"Getting caught under water, yes." She replied.

"How about leaning down and putting your face in the water, that way you can control the situation? I promise, I won't do anything except stand here." Joe held his hands up, stepping back from her a little bit.

With trust in his words, Lucy leaned over the water with her face maybe two inches from it. Slowly her face inched into the water, it was the face that her head wasn't totally under water that made the difference of not panicing. After a few seconds of being like this she came up gasping for air, pushing her hair from her face and smiling at Joe.

"It wasn't so bad."

"Good, that's good, Babygirl." He ran a hand over her head. "Once you get comfortable with that we can see how dunking feels."

So after four successful face submerges, Lucy felt she was ready for the plunge, so to speak. Joe took her hands in his and they sat down on the bottom of the pool, all the while looking at each other. Joe pulled Lucy back up out of the water so that he was holding her. Yes, her heart was hammering in her chest but she wasn't scared and it showed on her face. She was smiling from ear to ear, looking at Joe.

"I wasn't scared. I wasn't scared!" She laughed, pushing her wet face into his wet chest.

"I'm glad, Babygirl. I'm so glad." He smiled, runnng his hand over her head.

After a few more sessions of plunges, both with Joe and then without Joe, it was time to learn the form of swimming.

"The breast stroke is the easiest way to go, that and the doggie paddle." Joe said moving off towards the deeper end of the pool.

Lucy paid attention to Joe's form, watching his arms and how they moved him through the water. When he swam towards her, he popped up in front of her and plunged them both underwater. The first thing Lucy realized was that he was kissing her and the terror was replaced by joy as Joe's hands came up to her waist and helped Lucy back to the surface.

"You're a jerk!" She slapped at Joe's arm, laughing all the way.

"It gave me a reason to kiss you didn't it?" Joe stood up his full height and smiled at her.

The both of them went back to Joe's condo to rest an hour later. Lucy was changing the room she had been using, changing her wet cloths to dry ones, when the door opened. There she was, wearing nothing in front of Joe in all her glory. Well it was only fair, she saw him earlier in the morning.

"Now I'm sorry." Joe quickly ducked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

This was getting too awkward for the both of them.

"I'm so sorry, Lucy." Joe said when she walked into the front room. "I should have knocked. I'm just..."

"So used to having the place to yourself." She said, sitting strangely on the couch. "I won't hesitate to say, it was a little easier since last night. I'm just...not used to it, not yet. And we haven't really been together for that long. I feel that I"m not ready for that step."

Joe pulled Lucy into his lap. "Tell me when you are. I'll wait."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"The best things are worth waiting for." He said simply, resting her head on his shoulder. "Tomorrow, I want to take you to Orlando for SeaWorld. We'll have to leave in the morning."

"Okay. Do you want to eat dinner here or go out?"

"Let's go shopping for food. What are you hungry for?"

"I don't know. What do you want?"

Joe laughed, pressing his mouth to her. "I would say you but then I'd be slapped." No, he wasn't slapped, she pulled his hair though. "I'll take that."

At least they could agree on the fact, they weren't ready for that leap in the relationship yet.

* * *

**Another Update, I'd like to hear your comments. I wasn't so sure if this one was proper to follow up on my last chapter or not. **


	25. Chapter 25

The distance between Tampa, Florida and Orland, Florida is eighty-five miles. At least that's what Google told Lucy as she stared at her tablet. To her it wasn't that far, as long as she had something to write on and with, the hour and twenty-five or so drive wouldn't be that boring for Lucy. It was Friday, and even though it was just starting to get into the summer months, Saturday would be a pain in the butt at SeaWorld with crowds. Friday was the only day they could go without having to fight the crowds.

It was still fairly early in the morning when they set out. Joe had noticed though that Lucy was feverishly writing something in her writer's notebook. She did that last night when he went to bed, only to wake up with her in his arms. Now that he could deal with all the time. It's getting used to waking up before her that made the difference, he started dressing in the bathroom to prevent any indescent exposure incidents. Yet still, this felt almost natural for them, well for Joe at least. He wasn't sure how Lucy thought of this situation.

Joe's focus was on the road, yet in the quiet of the car Lucy had attached his iPod to the stereo system and let his music play. She would respectfully listen to his rap and hip-hop music, with her barefoot propped up on the dashboard so that she could write on the clipboard. It was cute to see her head bob to a song she liked. Her focus was on her writing basically but to Joe, she had done something not even Brie had done, let him enjoy something he liked.

The first thing Lucy actually noticed when Joe pulled into the parking lot of SeaWorld was a lighthouse with Orcas painted on it. Then she remembered nearly drowning in the lake when she was a kid. She didn't know why that was important at that moment, but it still bothered her.

"Babygirl, you okay?" Joe asked, reaching over to touch her arm slightly.

"Yeah, I think so. It's just, water is sort of the scariest thing to me right now."

He pushed her free flowing hair off her shoulder. "We don't need to go, Lucy. If you're uncomfortable..."

"No. I've always wanted to go here. And it's not like I'm going to be swimming anyway." She said as she placed her notebook down on the floor board. "Come on, I want to see some sea turtles."

Joe paid for their tickets, which included ride access. It was all overwhelming for her, with so many people walking around and so many different sounds. Even over the rush of people, to Lucy it seemed like she could hear the whales and dolphins already. Course this was how she thought a lot of the time, so she moved it to the back of her mind as she and Joe went to go see her favorite sea creatures, the sea turtles.

For a while it was magical for Joe. He could see the light in Lucy's green eyes as she watched each animal with intent interest. Every fish, every turtle, the manatees, they all caught her attention. The way Lucy would hold his arm or his hand as she reached out to touch the viewing glass, the innocence on her face...it made Joe just fall for her just as much as before. He watched as a turtle skimmed the glass beyond Lucy's hand, and the one sound she made was the joyful laugh he hadn't heard a lot of.

"So, how did you like it?" Joe asked once they left the Sea Turtle Trek exhibit.

"I liked it a lot. I loved the turtles and that 3D thing at the end." She lifted the back of his hand to her mouth and kissed it. "Now it's your turn to decide where to go. And don't say wherever I want, I want you to enjoy this place with me."

"Let's go look at Shark Encounter."

They weren't in any hurry, they wanted to enjoy their time at the park together. Yet when they started there at the sharks, there seemed to be more people than at the Turtle Trek exhibit. She hung close to Joe, holding his right arm snug to her, her small body pressed to the side of his.

"Lucy, what's wrong, babe?" Joe asked looking down at her. "Is this place scaring you?"

"No, it's more or less the people."

"You perform in front of thousands of people, millions on television."

"There is a barrier keeping people from me, they can't touch me." She jerked when two children ran next to her. "But I want to have some fun. If it gets too tough, I might have to leave."

But they didn't leave. The two stayed and kept a little ways away from most of the boistrous children who wanted to see the sharks. Joe found out instantly that Lucy wasn't kidding, she really was more oriented in animals than people.

"Those black spots on their snouts the sense electromagnectic fields, all living things give of EMF signals, and because of this when they don't know what something is they inspect it. Humans are soft and squishy, not their real food, too boney." Lucy said as a grey nurse shark, with all it's pointy white teeth. "Look a hammerhead over there. And that's a bull shark. On the most dangerous scale, bull sharks rank more dangerous than great white sharks."

"Yeah. How more dangerous can they be?" He asked, watching the shark she had pointed to pass over head in the viewing tube.

"Bull sharks swim up fresh water rivers. They have been seen thousands of miles inland in the Amazon, up the Mississippi River, all the way to St. Louis. But also because they are more aggressive than a great white. Most shark attacks are from bull sharks."

Joe smiled, enjoying the fact that Lucy was now starting to have a fun time.

As the day wore on, Lucy was starting to get more relaxed around people. It was like she didn't care they were there. Her focus was either on the animals or talking to Joe. He'd seen a woman brush by Lucy's arm and she didn't flinch, she kept on talking about one animal or another.

When the two of them were heading to the Dolphin Cove underwater viewing station they were stopped outside the Cove by a little girl. The girl was maybe six years old, and she tugged on Lucy's blue tank top, making her stop walking. The girl's mother, Lucy assume, grabbed the girl's hand turning her around.

"You don't do that, Chelsea." The mother said as well as using sign language. "I am so sorry, my daughter thinks you're a celebrity."

"What kind do you think I am?" Lucy signed to the little girl, which made her smile ten times brighter.

"You're Lucy," the girl responded, moving her hands rapidly. "You're from the WWE."

That's when Joe stepped back, letting Lucy take over the conversation.

"I am Lucy. It's nice to meet you, Chelsea. What can I do for you?"

The girl pulled a picture from a backpack, which was one of the recent photo shoots Lucy had with The Shield. Lucy smiled at the picture that was in her hands.

"Can I have your autograph?" The girl signed.

"Yes."

Lucy was happy to pose with the girl in a picture in front of the Cove. Chelsea was happy that a celebrity knew how to sign.

"I had a friend that was deaf growing up." Lucy explained. "But she moved away. She taught me how to sign."

The mother and daughter left soon after, excusing themselves to go see the Shamu show. That's why the crowds were thinning, the orcas were going to be performing. Lucy wasn't really interested in seeing a show at the time, she just wanted to see the animals at the moment.

"That was nice of you, Lucy." Joe said, pushing off the nearby wall. "And cute."

"Cute?"

"Being able to interact with special needs children. That they are willing to approach you, rather than me, because I bet they can tell you're different."

"I guess so. I never really thought about it."

She hadn't. Not that a lot of fans approached her outside of the shows, only a handful and now that she thought about it, they were mainly special needs people.

With the Shamu performance going on, there were less people around to worry about. The Dolphin Cove dolphins were just swimming around and enjoying themselves, not having children hitting the glass or screaming at them. There were like five in the tank at this time, and it was only Joe and Lucy standing in front of it. This caught the attention of the dolphins real quick.

"So, tell me about the dolphins." Joe said, wrapping an arm around Lucy's waist and pulling her towards him.

The two of them shared a kiss, in front of the well lit dolphin tank. The funny thing about water was that it amplified the dolphin sounds and from the way the sounds that were coming at them, the dolphins were enjoying the PDA actions of the two humans in front of them. Throwing her arms around Joe's middle, Lucy began laughing, especially at the dolphins who seemed to be laughing at them.

"They have some taste for romance, don't they?" Joe asked, swaying slightly as he held Lucy to him.

"Maybe their jealous of me. A beautiful man like kissing on me." She chided.

"Come on, Babygirl, you're more beautiful than me."

"Okay, we're both beautiful people."

Maybe she was right, the dolphins were enjoying watching the humans acting like animals this time. It was kind of funny to see five dolphins at the underwater viewing station watching these two humans who were holding each other and kissing.

* * *

**Well, that's one half of the SeaWorld visit, not sure if was good enough. Not sure where to take it next, I've never been there before. Got any suggestions, PM or review.**


	26. Chapter 26

"Joe, I'm sort of hungry." Lucy said, looking at him as they both were walking away from Dolphin Cove. "Feeding the dolphins made me want to get something to eat."

"You want to eat fish?"

"No. I don't like seafood." She said shaking her head. "I can't eat sushi without getting sick."

"You're allergic to seafood?"

"Inari is okay because it doesn't have fish in it, I love that, but nothing else. Do you like seafood?" She asked looking at Joe, her hand rubbing his exposed tattoo sleeve.

He shrugged in response. "I guess. You know there's different eateries here. I bet because with the main theatre open we wouldn't have to contend with the crowds." He pointed to a sign.

She had to choose what to do next but Lucy didn't know what. Dining with Shamu sounded fun but it wasn't happening yet since the show was still going on. There were other smaller cafes that didn't look as pleasing as one thing. It had to deal with sharks again.

"The Shark's Underwater Grill sounds just perfect." She pointed to the place on the sign. "That sounds kind of romantic, in a round about kind of way."

"Great choice, Babygirl." Joe kissed her before leading the way to the Grill.

But what would happen next for the two would bring them closer to Colby. It would bring two lost friends back together.

As they were being shown to their table, Joe spotted a familiar two tone haired man with a woman. What was different about this woman was that she had black as night hair and pale white skin, almost as white as Sheamus' skin. Her hair was so long it rested at her hips, but what caught Lucy's attention was that they were signing, yes Colby Lopez was using sign language.

"Colb?" Joe's voice rose in shock.

"Sophia?" Lucy said, looking at the woman more closely.

There she was, the childhood friend she lost when she was sixteen. This was the girl that she spent so much time with out in the woods behind their houses, sharing stories together. Sophia Carter stood up, and without a sound, she wrapped her arms around her old friend, drawing Lucy in for a well needed hug. Besides Joe and Jon, and Nessa of course, the only other person that Lucy ever really let touch her was Sophia. She had a hard time with her family, all except Dan and his wife.

"I missed you." The slurred speech of the woman was indicative of a deaf person, a person that couldn't hear her own voice. "I am so sorry..."

Holding her hands up, Lucy turned to the waitress. "Can we sit with them, please? We're all friends."

"Of course, that's fine." The woman said, motioning for them to sit at the table.

Sophia and Colby were on one side and Lucy and Joe were on the other of the table. Once they all ordered from the menu they sat in silence for a bit, trying to decide what to say.

"So, you two know each other?" Colby asked, and out of habit signed it as well.

"Yes, we grew up together in West Newbury. She was three doors down from me," Lucy explained speaking but signing as well. "Sophia taught me sign language, it was our language since...until she moved away when we were sixteen."

"My Dad got a job in Iowa." Sophia explained, resetting a small dog on her lap. "I knew Colby that summer when I moved."

"We've been dating since we were twenty." Colby added.

"So seven years. This is Kevin, he's my hearing dog." The little yorkie had a vest on that said service animal on it. "It's nice to finally meet you, Joe."

Joe shook her hand across the table. "Same here. Are you traveling with Colby?"

"Yes." Sophia said, smiling. "Colby thought Lucy could use another friend on the road. I am a teacher now, I teach hearing impared children but with summer here, I was going to be bored at the house."

To Joe it was awkward. Colby and Lucy were signing, yes they were speaking but so was this Sophia woman. Sure she could speak fairly well for being deaf, but Joe didn't know how to interact with this kind of person.

"You have to speak to my face, I can read lips. If you talk fast I can't understand you." Sophia said, as if she could tell what Joe was thinking just by the look on his face. "You look strange. Is something the matter?"

"I kinda feel left out. You three know sign language but I don't. I appreciate that you are speaking normally but..."

"Think of it as a culture, like your heritage, Joe." Sophia told him. "You know the language, you know the culture, but we don't." She motioned to Colby, Lucy and herself. "I know what it is like to not understand, to be on the outside looking in. It still is like that. But I don't let it bother me. It took him years to actually understand sign language. Lucy was like a year because she didn't have any other friends but me."

"Did you go to the same school together?" Joe asked.

"No, we didn't. I went to a special school for the hearing impaired in Boston."

"I was stuck in a public school. It didn't mean that the kids in the area didn't harass Sophia because she couldn't hear." Lucy added as their food came.

"Remember that one summer we found the squirrel nest and we nursed them until they were ready to leave?" Sophia asked, looking at Lucy.

The day started out good but it continued to become great. After lunch with Colby and Sophia the four decided to go out into the park with renewed enthusiasm. After the sharks they decided to go look at the Wild Arctic habitats.

"I like polar bears. They're as white as me, well I'm almost as white as they are." Sophia said, making Lucy laugh as she hung onto Joe's right arm. "If I stay in the sun, I'll be a red lobster by the end of the day."

"Come on, Babe," Colby signed as he spoke. "You look great in red." He got a slap upside the head by his girlfriend. "Ow, okay, okay, you're beautiful. Don't mess with the hair."

"You need to get that hairdresser to trim this." Sophia tugged at her boyfriend's beard. "You look like a walrus." The face Colby gave her was like a pouting puppy, bottom lip and everything. "A cute walrus though."

Kevin, the hearing aid dog, walked on a leash next to Sophia. They had been to the upper viewing areas of the Wild Arctic, seeing first the Belugas, then the sleeping polar bears, and the walrus, but when they got down to the lower underwater viewing areas, especially with the four Belugas on display named Aurek, Klondike, Maple and Whisper. The four humans and the small dog was a sight to be seen by these four whales.

Not sure which was which, and as Sophia was holding Kevin towards the glass window, the four whales came to investigate the small, furry thing.

"I can feel them talking." Sophia said, looking at the whales.

Sound travels in waves, sure she can't hear the sounds of the whales but she could feel them. They were loud, the other three humans could hear the whales getting excited over the small dog, who seemed oblivious to anything going on.

"That's actually funny." Joe said, pulling out his phone.

Other people were also filming what was going on. As Sophia put Kevin back on the floor, the whales followed him, watching him. The high pitched talking could be heard, and felt if you really paid any attention to that. Kevin would walk a little bit and the whales would follow. It had to be one of the funniest, sweetest things Lucy had ever seen. Yet when it was time to go, the Belugas followed the group of four and dog as far as their tank would let them.

"It's kind of sad, I bet they wanted to play with Kevin." Sophie said.

"Belugas are more even tempered than the orcas." Lucy stated when her friend looked at her. "The park will be closing soon. Have you gone to the underwater viewing for the orcas yet?"

"No, we haven't." Colby responded. "Let's do that now before we have to leave."

Joe stopped. "I need to go do something. I'll catch up with you guys in a bit, okay."

"Why?" Lucy asked, staring at her boyfriend with curiosity.

"I promise, Babygirl, I'll find you at the underwater viewing at the orcas." He gave her a quick kiss before maneuvering his way through the crowds that were leaving the Shamu stadium.

"Babygirl?" Sophie asked her friend.

"He's my boyfriend, that's his name for me."

"Oh. You got a good one. Mine still looks like an animal."

Colby threw his hands up in the air. "What is it with you women and my face?"

"The first time we met, you didn't look like a dog, that's why." Sophie shoved him slightly before looking over at Lucy. "See what I have to live with?"

"I feel bad for Joe and Jon, they work with him."

Joe found that a crowd had gathered around the underwater viewing at Shamu Stadium. He found out quickly why too. Colby was holding Kevin under one arm while filming Lucy and Sophie on his phone. There were two orcas watching the two women playing a game of patty-cake, sign language patty-cake of sorts.

"What's going on?" Joe asked his Shield teammate as he managed to get trough the crowd.

"Just the wonders of the women and their effect on animals. Lucy's a natural at this. When we arrived those two weren't paying any attention to anyone, until Sophia and Lucy started the hand clapping game."

Lucy smiled when she saw Joe. "Sweetie, come here." She held her hand out to him. He didn't hesitate. "Colby, can you get a picture of us with the whales. We'll get you and Sophie after us."

All in all, the day had been a success. Once their trek through SeaWorld was over with the four went towards the parking lot.

"We need to do something together, just the two of us to catch up after nearly ten years apart." Lucy suggested after she stopped Sophia.

"Yes, I would like that a lot. Maybe you, me and Nessa, I've heard so much about her."

"She's not going to be around Monday for Raw, she's got a wedding..." Lucy jumped when she saw Joe's hands come into view as he put something around her neck. "What in the world? Joe?"

"Got you something, Babygirl. I saw it when we walking by one of the gift shops. I thought you would like it."

It was a sea turtle, green like her eyes, dangling down around her chest. Sophia was smiling, looking at her boyfriend who seemed to have the phone permanently glued to his hand as he filmed this event for the two love birds. Even though they were standing in front of their two friends, Joe and Lucy kissed.

The perfect end to a perfect day, in Lucy's mind at least.

* * *

**Well, that was a little better than I thought. How'd you guys like it?**


	27. Chapter 27

Lucy found her fears coming to light on Monday Night Raw. She had to go out in front of people in a bikini, and Lucy refused to show Joe until the unveiling at the show. It's not that she didn't want Joe to see her, but she wanted him to be surprised by the bikini Trinity, Ariane and Sophia helped her chose that passed Sunday.

This was too much for her. No, she couldn't do it. It was all just a little too much for her.

Trinity put her hand on Lucy's elbow, seeing the auburn haired woman shaking almost violently where she stood. "Hey, come on. It's going to be okay."

"I don't know if I can do it, Trin." She gasped out, several tears falling down her face.

"Just go out there and act like Lucy, The Shield's girl." Ariane said from Lucy's right side. "Keep the real you back here. Out there, you're a totally different person."

"Yeah," Lucy heard her brother's girlfriend say, or was it the sister of the girlfriend. "You are a totally different person, but you're still a bitch just the same."

"Don't listen to them." Layla spoke up, moving to stand between the two twins and Lucy. "They are nothing. They are the nobodies."

"No, she's nothing. She's a nobody." Thing One on the right said. Lucy had to look at that one's hands saw that she wasn't wearing a ring. That meant this twin was Brie. "We wouldn't care if you went off and killed yourself."

That was the worst thing she had ever heard in her life, especially if it was from a Mean GIrl like one of the Twins. Lucy paled considerably, playing with the belt of the robe that concealed the one bikini she ever wore in her life. No one had ever been so mean to her, sure they had said some really hurtful things in the past but this was just beyond it all. It wasn't right for anyone to wish death on anyone else.

"Damn, you're so ugly, I don't understand why Roman can stand to even look at you." Nikki, the one on the left, said.

"I can't understand why you're with my brother. I guess to each their own. So stay with your own kind, two timing bastards." Lucy responded, glaring at the woman before wiping her eyes slightly. "You can keep my brother. He's being an ass as it is, I'd rather not have him in my life if your claws are in him."

The Shield were watching the divas from their spot. If something went down with Lucy they were told to get out there to stop it. By orders of Ms. Stephanie herself, and Triple H and Vince McMahon. They knew what was at stake if Lucy suffered a panic attack in the ring. As the divas came out in their bathrobes, well most, Joe's eyes followed only Lucy.

"She looks scared." Jon noted from next to the Samoan. "And she looks pissed off, if that's even possible."

Lucy stood awkward, hands clasped around a microphone that she was given. As this bikini contest went on, the closer it got to her. Lucy was swaying slightly, just to keep calm. Layla suggested that she come in last in the line so that she wasn't in the middle of everyone, that she was on the end closest towards the ramp to make a quick exit if she needed it. Lucy was grateful for the other woman who seemed to take over the big sister role for her since Nessa wasn't there.

"Now, Lucy, I know you're not a diva. Rightly, I don't even know why you're out here." Jerry the King Lawler said, as he approached the small woman. "But could you show us your bikini."

Since her recent wardrobe change for The Shield, Lucy never really wore anything fancy. This bikini though, it was brown and creme color with a floral pattern to it. The top was a halter, the straps tied behind Lucy's head but the bikini bottom was a skirt, so it didn't show off her butt at all. Lucy had the body, maybe not the smallest of bellies but with her sports history she was still very appealing to any man's eyes, especially in this outfit that she was wearing.

"Damn..." Joe mumbled to himself as she stared at Lucy in the monitor. "She's so damn gorgeous."

"You want me to plead my case to the audience about why I should win this competition?" Lucy asked looking at Jerry. "Um, no I'm not. One, I'm not a diva. B, I was sort of forced to do this against my will. And Trois, I don't feel I need to be involved in this game."

"Good, we don't want you here." Brie Bella spoke into her microphone. "We've never wanted you here."

Yep, the script went out the window along with the rules that the divas were supposed to follow for this thing. Brie broke, what was that word again, kayfabe or something like that. To Lucy she broke character, while Lucy had to stay in character so that she could act professional for the fans.

"I agree. You're nothing, a nobody. I mean, I bet your boyfriend only dating you because he feels sorry." Now it was Nikki's turn to break character.

Lucy helplessly looked at Jerry Lawler because he was the veteran in the ring, he would know what to do. He looked just as bewildered as Lucy did. Well now, what? What was she going to do.

"Oh, you don't have a come back, you autistic retard?"

Now all the cards went out the window. When someone like that broke script they really meant it. Well, Lucy was going to have to fire back in her own way.

She handed Jerry the microphone she was holding, but had him hold it near her mouth. "I need to use my hands for this." Lucy said, signing as she spoke.

No one besides those closest to her knew about the sign language thing. None of the divas knew this about her, because before Sophia came back into her life she had no real reason to do this.

"I am not truly autistic, Thing One and Thing Two." Lucy said, her hands moving as she spoke. "I have symptoms of it, yes, but I am not retarded. You say I don't belong here, you're right. I don't belong in a ring. My job is outside of it, where I work for my employers. I don't valet, I don't wrestle. But never, ever use that word again. If anything you two are the retards." Lucy wasn't expecting the crowd to agree with her, roaring in approval over her statement. "You don't understand so you judge. You bully me because I am not like you, I don't act like you, dress like you, and I am not friends with you because of this. I have a hard time expressing myself because I don't understand how. I have social issues, but that doesn't give you the right to tell me I should go off and kill myself."

John was staring at the screen in the men's locker room, along with others that were supposed to be getting ready. Did the twins really say that to her, to his sister? From the looks on their faces, they had said it at some point.

"Yeah, I can fire at you the same way. I have not been here long enough, yes, but I know when you two are wrong." Lucy kept signing away. "I don't understand why you have to be so mean to me when I have done nothing wrong to either of you, to any of the divas, to be treated like I'm some sort of leper or something. So as it stands, you win. I want nothing to do with this, or either of you two. I'm going back to my regular job. Ms. Vickie can kiss my ass if she wants. I'm out."

Lucy exited the ring, brown wedges and all. She left with the crowd cheering for her but she didn't stick around. She knew she had to get out of there, she knew that she would eventually loose her cool and break down. She would rather it not be in front of the fans. That was the last thing she wanted to do.

"Hey, Toots, come on." Phil appeared out of nowhere, making her jump. "I'm taking you back to your guys."

Her guys, that's what everyone referred to The Shield as around her. Her guys. Actually that reference made her smile slightly. Phil was nice to her, not because of her issues, but that was the kind of guy he was. Maybe she could trust him a little bit more if she wasn't having an issue at that moment.

John Cena, on the other hand, was having an issue of his own. No one seemed to want to, or knew of, where to find Lucy at. He'd scoured the halls looking for her, even trying to find one of The Shield members to help, if that was at all possible. But no, he couldn't find any of them and the last person he would ever expect to see was the one that found him.

"Hello, John." That voice was someone he had thought he would never hear again.

The woman was no longer the little girl he had known. She was like a dark haired goddess or something like that. A yorkie sat at her feet, a vest declaring that it was her service dog. This was Sophia, Lucy's former childhood best friend. After Sophia left, Lucy never really did have any friends.

"Where's Lucy?"

"Joe's tending to her, along the other Shield members."

"What are you doing here? I thought you lost contact with my sister."

The deaf woman shook her head. "I always tried to contact her, through letters. I mean I memorized her address, but soon the letters stopped coming from her. I don't blame her, living in your family was no picnic."

He glared at the woman. "You don't know what it was like having Lucy..."

"No, I do. Look at me, John. I am different like her, we came together because we were different and the rest of you didn't know how to deal with her. I did. I understood her because you were an idiot." She signed the last part with an emphasis on idiot. "She's being properly taken care of, by people that really do care for her. I would suggest leaving her alone for a while."

Well if John wasn't going to be able to talk to Lucy then he was definately going to talk to Nikki, if he could find her.

* * *

**This is not exactly how I imagined this to go but it came out just as good. How do you think it is? **


	28. Chapter 28

She didn't know what to do or say, Lucy just stayed quiet. Sophia stayed with her when The Shield had to go and do their match for the night. Phil promised Joe and Colby that he would watch the two women while they were gone. Unfortunately for Phil, he answered Jon's phone when Nessa called.

"How dare that bitch do that to my friend? The next time I see either of those duplicates I'm tying them to my work chair and shaving them bald!" Lucy heard Nessa screaming as Phil held the phone away from his ear. "I'm coming out on the next flight and Ambrose better have his sorry ass at the airport for me by tomorrow or his nuts are getting cut!" Then she disconnected the call.

Phil stared at the phone, unsure of what to say or do. "That's the hairdresser that Ambrose is dating?" He asked, looking at the two women.

"She's okay, unless you look like you have a ferrett on your face." Lucy said, signing out of habit for her friend.

Phil touched his oddly groomed beard. "Dear God, I hope she doesn't come after me with a razor. After what she and Joe did to Rollins, I'm actually scared."

"You have to speak facing me. I can't read your lips." Sophia said, making Phil look at her. "I'm Sophia by the way. I'm Colby's girlfriend. I'm deaf if you haven't noticed."

"Oh right, Lucy mentioned you when I first met her. Nice to meet you, Dollface." He shook her hand respectfully.

"How is it that she gets Dollface and I am Toots?" Lucy asked.

"Don't know, she looks like a Dollface to me."

"You're from Illinois, right? Chicago?" Sophie asked. "I've been there with Colby for wrestling stuff for a few years."

Phil told the women about some of his own Indy stories, trying to keep Lucy's attention off of what happened out there in the ring. He knew she was still unsure if doing what she did was wrong, but he had to applaude her for what she did. Yes, the Bellas broke script but so did Lucy, but Lucy was standing up for herself and for others of such affiliations. Phil knew it had to take courage for what she did, but she could also be in trouble.

"Oh shit..." Phil cursed, his attention turning to the monitor in the room.

The match that The Shield was in, involved Lucy's brother, Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan. From the look on Randy's face, who was only looking at Joe, it meant impending death. Nothing seemed to faze Joe as Roman Reigns. He had a job to do, a passion to do it and he left everything else behind the scenes. But John Cena had this impassive look to him that worried Lucy.

"What do you think will happen?" Sophia asked.

"I don't know," signed Lucy as she kept her focus on the screen. "The Bellas already screwed up tonight, who is to say that either Orton or my brother will do the same?"

The match went on, but it seemed like Roman only fought against Daniel Bryan, the little man outrunning the larger Samoan, until Roman speared him. But then during this part, Randy came in and punched Roman. This was not a simple forearm punch, she knew somewhat of wrestling that this strike was not faked in anyway. Especially when Lucy saw the blood from Joe's mouth as he staggered backwards from Randy's advances. Dean tagged himself in, getting Roman out of the way of Orton's rage.

"I have to get down there." Lucy stood up, only to have Phil grab her arm.

"That's the last thing you need to do right now." Phil said, making her sit back down on the bench. "You'll get fired if you do that. And trust me when I say that's not something you need right now. Toots, you have to trust him to be professional."

"It's all my fault that any of this happened."

"How is it your fault?"

"If I'd just let Randy..."

"What, rape you when you were sixteen? No." Phil tilted her head up. "None of this is your fault, Lucina. They all fucked it up. It's their fault, not yours. You have done everything right and I may not have been around for a long time for you, but I know you're not the problem."

Lucy's brain felt like it was going to explode. He was telling her that she was not a problem and yet in some twisted way she also felt the Bellas were right. She didn't know what, or who to believe anymore. Everyone was telling her that she was either good or not. This was the sole reason why she hated social media, Lucy just didn't want to deal with the drama. But what was she going to do now that she was living the drama?

When she saw that the match was over, that The Shield had won that's all she needed to get up and go find Joe. Sophia followed, Phil took it upon himself to follow them because he had promised their boyfriends he would watch them.

"Joe!" Lucy called out when she finally found him.

He tried to wipe the blood away from his cut lower lip but she moved his hand away. Her hands were shaking as the tears fell freely now. Lucy wasn't sure if she could just touch him, she was afraid she would hurt him more than he was. Not that he was showing any pain.

"What did that monster do to you?" She asked, her own lip quivering. "Sweetie..."

"I'm fine, Babygirl. Remember, I used to be professional football player." He tried to ease her panic, but that wasn't possible at this moment.

Phil looked over at Jon. "Hey, man, your girl called. You might want to call her back. She was very insistant that you get in contact with her."

"Did she really say that?"

"No, said something about cutting off your balls if you don't pick her up from the airport." He shrugged as he handed Jon's phone over to him. "I'm actually scared of her, you know."

The look on Jon's face spoke volumes as he went to find a spot to call Nessa in peace.

Colby pressed a kiss to Sophia's head, running his thumb over her cheek. "Love you, Sweets." He said, looking into her eyes.

"Love you, too, Bear."

Could Lucy do that, she wondered as she stared at Joe, dabbing at his lip with a rag. Would she be able to tell him that she loved him? Yes she truly did care for him, but...would he say it in return.

Would Joe be better off if he didn't have to worry about her? Would he be better off if she wasn't there?

* * *

"What the hell happened out there?" Vince demanded when the group showed up for an emergency meeting. "Were you all planning on throwing all your matches?"

Again with the small rooms and lots of people. The Shield, minus Sophia and Phil, with Lucy stood on one side of the room while The Bellas, Randy Orton and John Cena stood on the other like the Hatfields and McCoys. It was like a family feud, Lucy realized as she refused to look at John or any of them. Her focus was on Ms. Stephanie as she stood nearest to her.

"Well, who's going to talk first?" Paul asked.

"This bullying has been going on since I was hired." Lucy finally admitted it. "The other divas were basically told that I was a total bitch and that they shouldn't try to be friends with me."

"Why?" Ms. Stephanie asked.

"It's fun." Nikki replied, not daring to look at John who refused to even acknowledge her. "But, yes we took it too far. The WWE has no place for someone like her."

"We'll be the judge of that, not you." Paul told her. "Though I am surprised, Lucy. I didn't know you could use sign language."

"My childhood best friend, who I haven't seen in like ten years, is actually Colby's girlfriend. And she's deaf." The auburn beauty said.

"And what's this rumor I hear about you, Orton...cheating on your wife?" Paul looked the man in question. "Threatening Lucy?"

"I've never threatened her." Randy roared in protest.

"We've been given footage of you harassing her backstage last Monday on Raw. And now tonight, pulling that shit in the ring. You're lucky you're not being suspended for that. Fined, yes, but this all is going to end."

"We've done nothing wrong. It's all her fault!" Brie pointed to Lucy, who would only look at Ms. Stephanie. "None of this would have happened if she kept her retarded ass back in Boston."

"All of your anger over a man." Lucy said, her green eyes looking at Brie. When she spoke, everyone listened, considering the tone she was using. "A man who I care so much about. The only man that ever truly cared for me, who deserves better than me. Granted what happened between the both of you was wrong, but I don't judge him for that when you lied to my brother about it, both of you, basically making him unwanted amongst most of the locker room." She looked at the two women in turn.

"I didn't lie, I just left out one fact." Brie paused. "Oops."

"Oops, all you can say is oops?" Lucy's voice rose. "Everyone was telling me he's no good because you couldn't keep your claws off a married man, because you made him out like a two timing dog with only one thought of his mind."

Joe had to stop her from nearing the brunette twin. He knew he couldn't risk her attacking the twins, not like she was capable of it.

"You have almost my entire family thinking that all he wants out of me is sex, that he is no good for me because you thought it would be funny to spread around his indiscretions while still over stepping your boundaries with him." Lucy jabbed a finger at Orton. "You're angry because I have something you want."

"Lucy..." John tried to speak.

"Shut up, Felix. And then you had to hurt my boyfriend in the match tonight, which I don't understand why. Tell me, Randy. I want to know why you had to go off and hurt him like that."

Orton looked intimidated by a small auburn haired woman, who had to be held back by a Samoan. For the briefest moment Randy didn't say anything before he spoke up. "I still like you, Lucy. I could have been better for you than him."

"How should I trust you after what you did to me when I was sixteen? It took me years to even acknowledge you in some way or form without having a damn panic attack. Just stay away from me, stay away from Joe, stay away from my friends. I don't want you in my life."

"Lucy, please..." Randy was actually short of begging at this point.

"I hate you!" She screamed and Joe had to keep his hands on her arms to prevent her from lunging at him. "I hate all of you. Why can't you just leave me alone?"

She broke from Joe's grasp and headed for the door, crying. One glance at Vince by the Samoan and the CEO nodded for Joe to leave as well. When John tried to go, Paul stopped him.

"I wouldn't do that, Cena. Let her go, let her calm down. Right now, The Bellas are suspended until further, Orton you're being fined for assaulting Reigns and the rest of you have this week off, even you John. We'll see you next week on Raw. Go. Except you, Orton. We have some things to discuss." Paul crossed his arms. "Close the door on your way out."

Jon nodded, since he was the last one that left the room.

* * *

**Not sure how I like this one. I'm trying not to rush things, but does it feel like this is dragging on for some of you? I'd love your guys' feedbacks.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Warning: This is a one chapter the is definitely Rated M. Bear with me, I've never written anything like this before. **

* * *

She woke up in the next morning as Joe groaned in his sleep. Joe had driven them back to his place after they left the Miami arena, which was a four hour drive that Lucy had slept through. Waking up in his bed again felt good until Lucy felt something hard poking in her lower back.

"Joe..." Lucy looked back behind her shoulder as she rubbed his arm. "Sweetie, wake up."

His darkened grey eyes slowly blinked open. "What, what's wrong?" Joe grumbled as he looked at her.

"You were having a dream." She turned over to properly look at him. "You were poking me."

"Oh God, Babygirl, I'm so sorry. I didn't think that would happen." She was confused as she watched Joe roll away from her and onto his back. "I haven't had one of those dreams in years."

"What kind of dream were you having, I don't understand." Lucy sat up.

"Ever heard of a wet dream?" Joe still wouldn't look at her. "I was having a dream about you, about us...um..."

"Having sex?"

"Yeah." He breathed out, putting a hand over his face.

"Did you like it? The sex? Was I good for you?" Now he looked at her crazily. "After everything happening, I wouldn't mind...testing the waters with you."

"You want me to..." Joe couldn't even bring himself to finish that sentence. "Babygirl...I don't want to scare you away."

"How can you scare me away if I want it?"

"But..." He watched as Lucy slipped her shirt off, revealing her ample breasts to him. "Lucy."

"We're half way there." She crawled onto his chest, circling her arms over his head, her forehead resting against his. "I already like your touch."

"Tell me to stop at any time. I can't loose you, not now."

She gasped as his mouth closed in around one of her nipples while Joe's hand came up to grope the other. Her fingers scratched at Joe's scalp as she kissed his head every one in a while. She liked the feel of kissing his hair, he smelled good especially after his showers. But she wanted to move this thing along after a minute or two of Joe having his fun.

Joe released Lucy's nipple with a wet popping sound as she started moving downwards, he could feel her underwear starting to get wet as it glided over his skin. He let Lucy explore his flesh, kissing him first then kissing the expanse of his chest. He smiled as she licked his nipple before sucking it, much like he had done with her.

The covers were fully kicked back as Lucy got off his body so that she could lick her way down his stomach. This is the part where Joe didn't want to scare her away, and he held his breath as Lucy hooked her fingers into the waistband of his boxers while trying to tug them off. He had to lift his hips so that she could get the cotton fabric off of him and when that was done she sat back to look at his hardened cock.

"Lucy..." Joe said seeing her reach for it but stopped when he felt her take a hold of him. "Oh God, Babygirl."

"Does that feel good?" She asked moving closer to his hip. He groaned in response. "How about now?" She squeazed slightly while moving her hand up and down his shaft.

"Babygirl, you're going to be the death of me today." His hand came around hers, joining in on stroking himself.

"I thought you were big the last time when I accidentally walked in on you in the bedroom, but now..."

"Don't disrespect my manhood, Babygirl." Joe warned, or tried to but it was hard to do when she had him in the palm of her hand the way she did.

"I'm not, I'm just afraid it won't fit in me."

"Let's work on getting you to that point. But it requires me to touch you." He stopped her hand. "I want you to feel pleased, it's not just about me in this."

She nodded, biting her lip as Joe's hand slipped between her legs. He pressed a finger along her panty covered core and then started kissing her neck just to intensify the feeling. He understood her sensory issues, how certain sounds or tastes effected her moods. He was trying desperately to get her to feel good and when he heard the keening cry come from Lucy as she held his hand in place while her body writhed in pleasure, Joe knew he was doing the right thing.

"You can touch me, Babygirl, if that's what you want." Joe's voice rumbled in her ear.

Her hand blindly sought his cock again, but when she did Lucy turned her head so that she could feverishly kiss her boyfriend. Slowly, so he wouldn't scare her, Joe slipped his hand inside her panties, probing her slightly. She jerked so violently he thought he had hurt her.

"I'm sorry, Lucy, I didn't mean..."

"Do it again. Please...it felt so good." She moaned, her hand moving faster on his cock.

Once he removed Lucy's panties, Joe moved so that he was resting between her thighs. Even here she was beautiful. He opened her lips with two fingers, looking into her pussy with interest and rewarded with the tender pink flesh. His hair brushed along her thighs as he kissed the nub at the top of her sex. With this action he was rewarded with an almost scream from Lucy, something he didn't expect.

"Oh God, Joe." His eyes shifted up so he could look at her. "Yes, yes, yes..." she chanted, her head falling back.

He wanted her to cum, to feel an orgasm for the first time. The hand that was holding her hip down was grabbed by her hand and then the other sank into the hair of his head, gently trying to get him to get deeper into her. He abandoned her clit so that he could lick her folds, before plunging it into her quivering channel. Joe knew she was coming soon and so he went back to the nub and sucked on it some more.

The feeling Lucy got was so intense and so dominating that even a scream was hard to get out. She arched off the bed, trapping Joe's head between her thighs as she rode out this mind shattering orgasm. Once she came down from it, Lucy was breathing hard, she was smiling and when she looked at Joe, she felt safe. He licked his lips clean as he moved next to her on the bed.

"Joe..." She said, stopping when she worried about something.

"Yes, Babygirl."

"I'm ready." Lucy said pressing her head to his shoulder, reaching for him. "I want you have sex with me."

"No." He kissed her forehead. "I don't want to have sex with you."

"What?" She looked at him worried, thinking she had done something wrong. "I thought you wanted to. I want to, Joe." Oh great, she was going to cry because he didn't find her appealing.

"I don't want to have sex with you, Lucy. I want to make love to you."

"What's the difference?"

"It's the same as sex, but I'm doing it to make you feel love. It's the only thing I want to do with you right now, but I don't want to scare you away, Babygirl."

"I'm not scared now. You're the last person that scares me, Joe." She stroked his cock a few more times. "Please, I want to feel you in me. I want to feel your heart beating next to mine..."

"It'll hurt." He warned.

"I've endured worse than this."

"How do you want it?" He stopped her hand by moving it to his hip as he crawled between her legs. "Can we do it this way?"

She nodded. "I want to see your face when you make love to me."

He pressed his cock to her wet opening, testing it. He pressed in only to pull out, just to get her used to the sensation. Her hands were on his shoulders, Lucy was biting her lip to the point she almost cut herself. To ease her worries, Joe pressed a kiss to her mouth, making her focus on him, his kisses and his body pressed to hers. Joe knew that there would be pain but because of his size, he was worried it would be too much for her.

Working his way into her was a little difficult because she was extremely tight. Lucy would wince at him filling her and he would stop to let her get used to the strange feeling of him working his way into her body. Then he found the barrier to her innocence stopping him, preventing him from going any deeper.

"Babygirl...this is going to hurt." He said pulling back.

"I know. I'm ready."

So he pushed forward, feeling the breaking of her barrier and seated himself fully into her. For Lucy, she cried out in pain, trying to push the intrusion off of her. But Joe didn't move, he tried to comfort her as best as possible while trying not to move.

"It hurts." She whimpered, turning her head so that she was pressing her face into his arm.

"It'll go away, just don't move." He kissed her head, pushing her hair from her face.

After feeling her relax around him a few minutes later, Joe pulled back slightly before moving back in. She whimpered but nodded in approval. The pain was lessening now, with every stroke he did it felt better. Then the pain disappeared and she was back to that glorious feelings she had earlier with Joe.

"Oh Joe, you feel so good." She crooned, looking up at him.

"So do you, Babygirl."

It was slow at first until they got the rhythm down. It was like a dance to Lucy as she felt the euphoria climbing again. Joe was making her feel this way when no one else ever did. The fact that he was the one that made her climax the first time was indicative of his worth to her. She moved her hips with his thrusts, making that delicious sound of skin slapping skin. Steadily they moved faster, almost unbearable for her at first until the first spasms of her climax started to show.

"Joe...I'm, I'm, going to do it again." She gasped out, her fingers clutching his shoulders almost painfully.

"Cum, Babygirl, cum for me." His pace was off center as he started to tumble over the edge with her.

Lucy locked onto Joe's cock as her second orgasm hit, and when it did it sent Joe over with her. Joe roared as he came into her, spurting his cum deep in her. Marking her as his now. No one else's his.

She was his Lucina, his little light.

"I love you, Lucy." Joe said pulling the small woman against him as he pulled the covers over them.

"I love you, too, Joe." She said, linking her fingers with his hand that was resting on her stomach.

"Let's get some sleep. We're driving to Pensacola later to see my family."

Lucy nodded, her eyes drifting shut before they popped open. "What?!" Joe heard her yelp before he settled her down with a kiss, easing her mind and body into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

**Well, I wanted to do it, and I did. I thought Lucy could enjoy some loving after so much drama. **


	30. Chapter 30

Later that morning, after a romp around the shower, Joe told Lucy to pack for a stay with his parents.

"They live six hours from here. We'll stay with them for a few days before we have to fly out to Connecticut Friday." Joe said when she looked at him.

"How should I address them?"

"From all the talks, Mom and Dad would be fine. My mother is very fond of you, Lucy. Asks me how her future daughter in law is doing."

"She thinks highly of me then?"

"Simone thinks highly of you, my cousins, basically everyone in my family loves you, Lucy."

"How come if most of them never met me before?"

Joe smiled across the bed from her. "The Usos have big mouths. And Dwayne wants to see you again. He's visiting for a few days before he has to fly back out to LA for more filming of that TV show."

Ever since she gave herself to Joe, Lucy didn't feel like her old self anymore. She felt new, like she was living again.

Once they got on the road, Lucy went back to what she loved to do, writing. And once again, she plugged Joe's iPod in the stereo so that his music could play for them. While driving with his left hand, Joe's right was on Lucy's leg, kneading it.

"What are you writing?" Joe had the courage to ask maybe an hour into the drive.

"Paraphrasing our love making sessions." It never seemed to amaze Joe how straight forward she could be when it came to asking questions. It's the answers that worried him.

"Why?"

"Because I liked them, so I'm writing them down for the story that I'm working on."

"Have you ever had a fantasy before, Babygirl?" Joe asked after a few moments of silence. "I mean, have you ever wanted to try something..."

"Joe, I'm almost twenty-six, you're the first man I've slept with. I can honestly say that I have never seen a porn in my life. How would I know what kind of sexual fantasy I want if I've only just started on that road?"

She made a damn good valid point, which Joe stored away in the back of his mind as he refocused on the road.

Four hours into the almost too quiet car ride, Lucy's phone chirps at her. It was a text from Sophia, who was still in Miami at that point, this time with the infamous Nessa. Well she was not alone at least. But Lucy felt sorry for Jon, who seemed to be in some sort of big trouble with Lucy at the moment.

"She's trying to kill Jon, what do we do?" Lucy read a text from Sophia out loud, glancing at Joe.

"He's a big boy, he can handle himself." Joe responded, though humored trying to mentally see the small blonde actually trying to hurt someone like Dean Ambrose.

"Now Nessa is trying to drown him in the ocean. Sophia sent me a picture. You're driving, I'm not going to bother you with it."

"So they decided to spend time in Miami, huh?" Joe asked.

"I think so. Nessa was pissed off that I didn't come see her. She blames you for taking me away after what happened at last night's show." Lucy put her phone down in her lap. "Joe..."

"Yeah, Babygirl?"

"Is it natural to want sex so much after the first time you've had it?"

These questions she had for him, they bothered him in so many ways.

* * *

"Well, here it is. The Anoa'i family homestead." Joe said pulling into the driveway of a relatively nice, big, house. "I remember so many stupid things going on around here."

"Why?"

"Being the youngest and a boy, I had to endure the torment of my sisters, still do actually." He smiled opening the driver side door. "Um, word of warning, my Dad can be a bit of a hugger. Uncle Jon the same way if he's here."

"Jonathan Fatu, Rakishi, right?"

"Oh yeah. But I'm not sure if he is here or not. Don't quote me on that."

Joe opened the door for Lucy to get out. Suddenly, as she was getting out of the car, the front door opened and a man yelled out to Joe in a language Lucy didn't understand. Actually it was interesting to watch Joe reply in the same language. He smiled at the older man with greying black hair who came towards them. After giving the man a hug, who stood about Joe's height, Joe turned to introduce him to Lucy.

"You must be my son's girlfriend. Come give Sika a hug."

Lucy yelped as she found her feet leaving the ground and her chin came to rest on the man's shoulder. Well, Sika definitely was a hugger and Joe did warn her about it. When she thought her lungs were going to burst, the older man set her down again, holding her away from him with his hands on her shoulders.

"She's a nice one, Leati Joe." Sika said, turning to look at his some. "Come on in, you both must be tired. Your mother fixed up your old room, it might be a tight fit for now but your mother is insistant."

"Insistant on what?" Lucy found herself asking.

"Grandchildren. She never thinks she has enough." Sika laughed pulling her along with path that led to the house.

Lucy gave a worried look at Joe as he followed. Joe was trying not to laugh at the look on her face because he knew she was deeply afraid right now. She had been since leaving Tampa earlier.

Ms. Pattie squealed in delight when Sika brought Lucy into the kitchen. "Oh my girl, you look better than you do on TV. Come give me a hug."

Well at least she didn't try to pop her back, Lucy mused as the woman patted her on the back before pulling away. Lucy noticed that she had eyes like Joe's, which made it even more easier for her to accept the woman. It made it more easier for Lucy to look at her than at Mr. Sika.

"You must be tired." Ms. Pattie said, coming her fingers through Lucy's hair slightly. "Joseph, go take her up to your room and let her sleep. Then you'll help me make dinner."

"He did all the driving, ma'am."

"Ma'am, ha, hush girl." Ms. Pattie motioned for Lucy to be quiet. "The men in the house don't do anything. Best to let them do as much for you before they start drinking beer on the couch."

Lucy didn't understand. What was Ms. Pattie talking about. Never the less, Joe took Lucy up to his old childhood room, up on the second floor. It looked like nothing had changed from when Joe was a teenager.

"Football?" Lucy looked at all the football posters and stuff like that around the room.

There was a television and a DVD player tucked up on a dresser that looked slightly outdated.

"It's what I wanted at first, but wrestling just seemed more plausible at the time." Joe said, putting Lucy's few bags down on the floor next to the closet. "Do you need anything, Babygirl."

"A kiss would be good." She smiled at him. And he did.

Dinner with the Anoa'i family was limited, limited in guests. The first night it was just Lucy, Joe and Joe's parents. After dinner, Joe ended up falling asleep during a backrub Lucy was giving him, so she decided to root through some of his childhood things, like pictures hanging up on the wall, other things like that. Not like digging through drawers, she had a hard time with that as it was at his place. She did his laundry once, that was a shocker for her.

She went to go put Joe's shoes in the closet when she found something down there, a shoe box. Don't know why she was intrigued by it, she knelt down and opened it. Not really sure what she would find, she thought sports cards or something, but instead came up with clippings, naughty magazine clippings. Instantly embarassed, she closed the box and put Joe's shoes up. Not what she wanted to encounter in his childhood home.

"Boys will be boys," she remembered hearing her Pops say when her Ma found a Playboy in Dan's room.

Lucy finally eased her mind into something more constructive, the story that she was working on. She sat at Joe's desk, scribbling away with her mechanical pencil, a scene unfolding in her head. Lucy wasn't aware of what time it was, but she wasn't aware of Joe waking up either.

"Babygirl, come to bed." Joe half whined as he rubbed his eyes.

"I'm almost done. I have to get this thought out of my head before I loose it."

"You want me to loose it on your ass?" That question made Lucy look up and over at Joe. It broke his heart when he saw how scared she looked. "No, Babygirl, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out that way. I was playing around with you. I promise. I did not mean to sound like a monster towards you."

"It's okay, I just didn't understand if you were joking or not." She turned back to her papers. After sighing, she scribbled a little bit more before putting her mechanical pencil down and standing up.

Joe watched her as she reached behind her and under her shirt unhook her bra. He laid back against the pillows and watched her strip out of her jeans before reaching over to turn off the lamp on the desk. In the shadows he watched her move towards the bed, scared. She was scared of him. He had to make it better, but he didn't want to get her morbidly scared of him.

"Can I hold you to me, Babygirl?" He asked as she slipped into the double sized bed.

"Yes." She whispered, moving closer to him so that his arm could slip behind her head.

He pulled her close to him, making sure that her head was resting on his chest. His thumb rubbed her hip, as his other reached over and gently took her hand in his. Lightly holding her hand, he rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb while kissing the top of her head. Her tenseness eased away and he felt her loosen up, going to sleep against him. He almost screwed up, he did. He managed to actually scare her. That wasn't his intentions, no. But he still felt like a fool for doing it. As he rolled around with this in his head, Joe finally found some peace and drifted off to sleep.

Ms. Pattie smiled at her youngest son, and the girl he was holding. Gently, so not to wake either of them, she closed the door to the room for the night.

* * *

**Eh...not sure how I like this one. I'm momentarily stuck for what's to happen in the next chapter. You know I love Feedback, it actually helps.**


	31. Chapter 31

"Is Lucy going to be here?" Simone asked her father as they approached her Aunt Pattie and Uncle Sika's home.

"From what I remember Aunt Pattie saying, she and Joe arrived here yesterday." Dwayne said. "I think that's Joe's car right there anyway."

The dark haired teen ran up the walkway and rang the doorbell. It was still farely early in the day, about ten in the morning so it hadn't turned really hot yet. Dwayne told Dani that he would take Simone over to see Joe and Lucy since they were staying with his Aunt and Uncle until Friday. It was Wednesday and Simone was excited to see Lucy again, which is strange considering she didn't have that sort of enthusiasm when it came to Trinity.

"Dwayne, Simone, it's so good to see you both." Ms. Pattie said answering the door.

"Hi, Aunt Pattie. Is Lucy up?" Simone asked after hugging her aunt.

"I think so, she and Joe got up a little late this morning. They had a long drive from Tampa yesterday. You can go check on them."

Lucy was up, so was Joe. They were making his bed, tucking in the sheets and making sure the blue comforter was just right. This actually felt normal, even the pillow fight that ensued when Joe tossed one at her. She tossed it back, Joe caught it, threw it back but when Lucy went to throw it at him he ducked and it hit Simone directly in the face. Dwayne, who happened to have been walking up behind his daughter, began laughing.

"Yep, you're up. What's going on?" Dwayne asked as Simone threw the pillow back at Joe, who easily caught it.

"We were having an adult pillow fight. He ducked and it hit Ms. Simone." Lucy explained, glaring at her boyfriend.

"And it's my fault you have a lousy aim?" Joe countered.

She lept across the bed, aiming the pillow at his head. Simone moved out of the way as the small woman literally jumped into Joe's arms sending both of them falling to the floor. Dwayne was laughing, Simone was shaking her head and Lucy was doing a sit down victory dance on Joe's chest.

"Who's lousy now, Sweetie?" She asked looking down at Joe.

"You guys are weird." Simone said. "I'm going downstairs. I'll see you later, right, Lucy?"

"Count on it, Ms. Simone."

Simone liked Lucy. No one ever respected her like that. But the teen knew that Lucy was different from other women Joe had brought around. Simone never met Brie Bella, but from what she knew, that woman was not someone she wanted around. Simone decided to check her Twitter to see if Joe and Lucy were trending, especially after what happened at Monday's Raw show.

"It is officially open season on Orton." Simone looked up when she heard her dad walking down the stairs with Joe and Lucy. "You don't mess with an Anoa'i and get away with it."

"Come on, D, we don't want to remember what he or any of them have done to us." Joe said as Lucy went to go to the kitchen. "Hey, Babe, could you get me a water, please?" He asked.

Lucy looked over her shoulder and nodded. Whenever others were talking, no matter the conversation, she didn't add in to it. Simone thoiught this was strange, so she followed Lucy into the kitchen. Maybe she could get the auburn woman to talk to her.

"Hello, Ms. Pattie." Lucy addressed Joe's mom. "Do you keep botled water around the house?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, they're in the fridge, Hun. So, are you and Joe going to do anything today?"

Lucy shrugged. "I don't know. I was hoping to do something before we leave Friday." She said as she got two bottled waters "Maybe we can go to see the ocean. I wanted to see if I could find one of those hurricane knots Joe described to me."

Hurricane knots are strange balls of sticks and vegetation that are often found on the Pensacola Bay beaches formed by sea winds and they gather shells, egg casings and other things from their travels. This interested Lucy a lot, that was her kind of activity.

"Can we go shopping, Lucy?" Simone asked, making the older woman look at her.

Shopping, hurray, Lucy thought as she tried to think. "I don't know. Let me think about it for a while. Remember, I don't have a fashion sense."

"I can help you with that."

"Maybe, Ms. Simone."

Simone turned to her aunt. "Aunt Pattie, I want to know something. Is what happened on Monday true. They called her autistic."

"The way she explained it to me is that she has symptoms of it, but she doesn't have it. She's just a little different from the rest of us. There's nothing wrong with that." Ms. Pattie said, smiling at the girl. "Maybe you can help her with that, Sweetie."

Lucy handed the bottled waters to Joe and Dwayne. "Ms. Simone wants to go shopping with me. I'd like to go."

"Sure, Babygirl." Joe smiled, reaching for his wallet.

"What are you doing?" Lucy grabbed his arm to stop him from doing what she thought he was going to do.

"Giving you my card."

"I can pay for my own things, Joe. I don't need your money." She pulled his arm down. "I might not even get anything. I just want to get to know her better, that's all." Lucy smiled at Dwayne before going back into the kitchen.

Simone looked up when Lucy came back into the kitchen. "Hi, Lucy."

"I was thinking about your question, Ms. Simone, and it would be nice to be around a female for a while. My two best girl friends are with their boyfriends, so I'm stuck with a man for a while. So, let's have a girls day out. Did you want to go, Ms. Pattie?" Lucy looked at Joe's mother.

"Let me get my purse." She smiled.

* * *

"Why didn't Cena get fined?" Dwayne asked as he, Sika and Joe were sitting on the back patio over looking the backyard and the nearby beach.

"He didn't throw the punch, but his girlfriend was the one that started it with Lucy." Joe rested his head against the patio railing. "He didn't pull the punch, he didn't do anything of that nature, what he only knew was what Brie and Nikki told him about me."

"I don't condone what you did in that case, Leati Joe." Sika said, looking at his son. "But look where you are now. That woman, she's a fine young woman. You should do good by her. You need to be there for her, but you need to let her grow since it seemed like no one else was going to let her."

"Her family is difficult to understand. It's like they were worried about their image, you know." Joe lifted his head up. "It was like because she had these social issues that they had to mediate her friends."

"How do you mean?"

"Besides Phil Brooks, whom she tends to trust a lot more than the others, she could basically only hang out with her John's friends while on the road. The rest of us in the locker room were told off, ordered to never go near her. And yet it seems so stupid that Cena is still friends with Orton after all the shit Orton put her through."

Dwayne thumped the railing with his fist. "If I'd known this back at WrestleMania, I would have kicked his ass for real." He took a drink of his beer. "When I saw her last, she was a little anti-social, but she seemed to like talking to Simone. My girl is head over the moon for Lucy."

"Lucy's finally warming up to The Usos, and with Trinity around as a support during the shows, they're really starting to become a mixed group of nuts. Lucy is opening up, finding her way in life. She wants to write a book, you know. She's been writing every second that she has time to. Can't say I'm proud of myself last night."

"What did you do, Leati Joe?" Mr. Sika asked.

"She was writing, I asked her to come to bed and she said she didn't want to loose her thought. I tried to play a little rough with her, said I was going to loose it on her ass and she just about freaked out. I felt like a damn fool, you know, when I saw that I was the one that scared her."

"Has she been hurt before?"

"Aside from Orton, she was attacked by a serial rapist. Don't mention that I told this to her, okay. But from what little she told me, it was a friend of the family. Her own trust in her family, aside from her brother Dan, is thin. That's why she's shocked that our family loves her the way we do."

There was a honk outside the house and the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. Ms. Pattie was home with Lucy and Simone. They had been gone for hours, it was about four in the afternoon when they returned. The three men moved from the patio to the kitchen before meeting the women and teenager in the foyer to the living room. All three were carrying multiple bags of various fashion department stores in there hands.

"Let me get that for you, Babygirl." Joe said seeing Lucy struggling with four bags in one hand and another three in the other. "Did you buy enough?"

"Ms. Simone suggested that I donate some of my old outfits to charity, which means I have to get new outfits. The logic seemed plausible, at least to us. But I am not buying a thousand dollars worth of cloths again." Lucy said glancing at the teen who only had three bags total.

"What? You have to look smoking hot for my cousin on a daily basis." The teen replied as he Dad took her bags from her.

"She's beautiful no matter what she looks like, Simone." Joe stated wrapping an arm around his girlfriend shoulder, bringing her closer to his side.

Ms. Simone made a gagging sound while pretending to jab her finger down her throat. "Your sappiness, Joe, doesn't do your image justice." She said, rolling her eyes at her cousin.

"A big Samoan softy." Lucy laughed with the teen.

Joe simply shook his head before he and Lucy headed up to his room.

* * *

**Okay, this isn't the best thing that came to mind for this chapter. How do you think it went? Also, I just wanted to let you know there is going to be one more chapter with the Anoa'i family.**


	32. Chapter 32

Lucy had bought a tiny red bikini the day before with Ms. Simone. And now Joe was having a hard time not staring at her ass as she was pulling her hair up into a high ponytail. Joe had to control this desire he saw when Lucy was wearing that red bikini, which was nothing more than strings and small patches of cloth. The edges of her ass were well defined in that bikini and it was hard for him to not walk up to her and caress her into submission. Lucy said the last thing she wanted was to have sex in his parents house, especially if Simone and other family members were around.

So he had to wait.

"Babygirl, are you almost ready?" Joe asked, making her look at him.

"Sorry, I was texting Sophia. She was telling me about Nessa trying to trim Colby's beard. Also, Jon is begging to come here so he doesn't have to deal with Nessa."

"What is wrong with her? She's only been gone a few days and then she comes back like a mad woman." He mused as Lucy turned off her phone.

"I know. But you know how she acts when things doesn't go her way, case in point, Colby's beard. The blonde actually got him into a headlock, and he submitted to her. But Nessa's glad that I'm away from the drama of the shows."

The black sheer wrap that Lucy tied around her waist prevented Joe from properly seeing her in that delicious looking bikini. That's okay, it would stop other men from staring at his territory...oh God, Joe thought as Lucy kept talking. He was thinking of her as his property. That was not something he wanted to think about at this moment. Nor her wrapped around him in the throws of reckless abandonment.

Lucy was looking at him now, and Joe realized she probably asked him something.

"You look weird. Is everything okay?" She finally asked.

"Yeah, just thinking about some stuff."

"If you need to talk, you can do it with me." Lucy said, rubbing his bare arm.

He leaned down to her ear and whispered. "Remember when you asked me if wanting sex so soon after having it the first time was natural?" She nodded. "That's what I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about you in that bikini and it's driving me wild. It makes me angry that other men will be looking at you in it today, regardless if they are my family."

"I don't care how they look at me, as long as you're the one that's looking at me, Joe." She said running her hand over his cheek. "As long as you're the one that touches me daily, that you're the one I wake up to in the morning...that's all I know proves that I only want you."

That's it, she really was going to be the death of him.

Both descended the stairs as the doorbell rang. When Ms. Pattie answered the door, Lucy found that it was The Usos and Trinity. Once the Funkadactyl saw Lucy in the new style of bikini she squealed.

"Oh my God, girl!" Trinity ran up to Lucy. "Look at you!"

"Hi, Trin. Ms. Simone helped me pick it out yesterday."

The dancing diva looked at her in shock. "A thirteen year old helped you find that? Was Joe there?"

"The men stayed at home while Ms. Pattie, Ms. Simone and I went out shopping yesterday." Lucy smiled at the thought. "I had a fun time just being a girl for once, you know."

"Oh trust me I know. Come on, I want to see if Jonathan's dad is here." Trinity took Lucy's hand and dragged her towards the kitchen, leaving their men in the front room.

"That can't be good. You know how my Dad is." Jonathan looked at Joe.

Jonathan and Joshua shared a look before the three headed out to the backyard where a lot of other family members were gathering for a...well gathering. Apparently when Joe said he wanted Lucy to meet the family, they all came out of the wood works. Lucy's already met his sisters, who instantly started calling her sister, or Sis. Joe was amazed at how well she was taking it in stride considering everything was so loud.

"Papa Solofa...this is Lucy, Joe's girlfriend." Trinity said, pulling Lucy up to the man named Rakishi. "This is Solofa Sr. Jonathan's father. He's known as Rakishi in the wrestling world."

Lucy didn't even get a word of greeting out before she was pulled into a Samoan hug. She yelped as her feet left the ground for the second time in two days and Rakishi patted her back happily before putting her down again. If she wasn't going to have a panic attack before, she was now.

"Good girl, for what you did. You showed those Twin Hussies who's the boss." He laughed, taking her shoulders into his hands. "You're good for my nephew."

"Come on, Uncle..." Ms. Myritza walked up, tugging Lucy out of his grip. "You're going to scare her away. And then Joe wouldn't be as happy as he is now."

"No, no...it's okay, actually. Mr. Sika did the same thing to me when I got here. I'm getting used to it, surprisingly. It is nice to meet you, Mr. Solofa."

"I wouldn't argue with her on how she calls you that. Sister here does it to just about everyone." Ms. Summer added. "Mom, Dad, even Simone is Ms. Simone. That's just who she is."

"You're good for my nephew. I met the last one he was with, that twin. Can't say I was happy about that event." Mr. Solofa said shaking his head. "But you're different. You respect us, you respect our family."

"Heritage is just as important as family history. If you know where you came from you can figure out where you're going usually. I didn't have the chance to know my real family."

"Real family," Ms. Myritza asked looking at her. "I thought you were a Cena."

"I am but by adoption. Um, my real parents died in a car crash when I was five. By the age of six or so, the Cena family adopted me. I remember some things of my real parents, like how they had Irish accents and loved to play soccer. I played soccer and baseball growing up because those were the sports that interested me the most."

Good, she wasn't afraid, not from what Joe saw from the back patio. He sighed and glanced at his cousins.

"So far so good, but when the rest appear I know she won't be around for long." He told The Usos. "I'm just going to hang out here, in case she has any issues."

"From the looks of things, I highly doubt that." Jonathan smiled seeing his mom and dad enjoying Lucy's company.

* * *

Food was fixed, beers were being handed out, the kids were playing in the pool and someone was doing something or another. Joe had just come back from the bathroom and looked for Lucy. Last he seen of her she was talking to Simone off in the corner of the yard, near his mother's rose garden. But Joe found Simone talking to one of their younger cousins, Lucy wasn't anywhere that he could see.

Simone saw Cousin Joe approaching and smiled. "She told me she was going down to the beach. I think she had a little too much fun."

"Thanks, Simone." Joe said heading out the back gate of the yard, which led to the beach.

The festivities were dulled by the sounds of the waves coming to shore. The sun was halfway covered by the horizon over the sea so it was easy for Joe to find Lucy. She was sitting on the sand, her feet buried up to her ankles with her arms wrapped around her knees and her chin resting on them. She wasn't facing the sun, no she was watching a sea turtle pulling itself out of the ocean to come to shore. She was maybe ten feet from it, her sole attention on the creature she was so fond of, so intent that she wasn't aware of Joe approaching.

"Hey, Babygirl." Joe kissed the top of her head. "Having fun?"

"Yeah, a little too much fun if you ask me." She said keeping her chin on her knees. "This just makes up for feeling like I am an outcast."

"You're not, Lucy." He rubbed her back.

"I'm a white grain of rice mixed in a sea of brown rice. I don't have this assertive personalities like they have. I'm not loud, I'm not...normal. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm just not enough."

"Stop...stop this, Lucy." He made her turn her head to look at him. "You're perfect, you're perfect to me, you're perfect to them," he motioned to the party. "Why do you think you're not perfect? Tell me, I want to know." Joe pressed his head to hers.

"My problems...what happened with Randy, that serial rapist...they made me who I am now. I can't look at a beer bottle and not thing of the one Randy was holding when he shoved me up against the fridge, the taste of beer on his tongue as he forced me with a French kiss. I still have nightmares of that man attacking me in my own home. That's why I sometimes cry at night." Tears marred her cheeks as she started to cry. "Why should you put up with me, Joe? Why should you go through all the trouble of wanting me, all of this when I don't deserve you. I don't deserve any of this."

He covered a cry from her with a kiss. Joe just wanted her to stop, to stop thinking like this. His only way of doing that was to show her, actions do speak louder than words.

"Babygirl, listen to me." Joe said once he pulled back. "You're an amazing woman. You have this spark. Yes you've been hurt but by allowing me to show you love and affection, and how it's supposed to be, you're letting those bad things go. I mean, you've stood up for yourself against The Bellas, against your brother, against Randy like a pro. Yes, you're quiet, you don't like crowds all too much but I couldn't have asked for a more accepting woman than you. Any other one that knew my history with Brie would have ended probably wouldn't have given me a chance."

"You have to be right, don't you?" Lucy asked, whiping her eyes.

"In this case, hell yeah."

Ms. Pattie went to look for Leati Joe and Lucy, it seemed that they had gone missing all of a sudden when Mr. Sika had brought out the kareoke machine. She found them on the beach, Lucy leaning against her son's front while sitting between his legs and both watching the sea turtle digging a nest. Pulling out her phone she snapped a few pictures at various angles before she finally made her pressence known.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Leati Joe, Lucy, but Sika is very insistant that Lucy sings for everyone."

"Mom, I don't think..." the man almost sounded like he was whining. How appealing, his mother thought.

"let me find a song and let's see what we can do about that." Lucy said, pushing herself up from the sand. "Let me show you how much I care for you, Joe. Please."

"You don't have to ask, Lucy. But okay." He took her outstretched hand and let her help him off the sand."

She had to find the right song that described what she felt at that moment for Joe. The kareoke machine had songs from the Disney channel and one caught her attention. Everyone in attendance settled into a hodgepodge of seating around the backyard, some in chairs and some on the grass or at the edge of the pool. The stage was the patio where the singers were gathered. Joe stood just below the patio steps waiting for Lucy.

The familiar sound of Cinderella's A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, with a more upbeat tempo to it started playing. Lucy held the microphone like a natural, her attention only on Joe at that point before singing. And when she opened her mouth, what came out was a sound that could only be described as angelic. Lucy had a natural talent of singing, untrained yes but she still sung great in Joe's eyes.

_A dream is a wish your heart makes_  
_When you're fast asleep_  
_In dreams you lose your heartaches_  
_Whatever you wish for, you keep_

_Have faith in your dreams and someday_  
_Your rainbow will come smiling thru_  
_No matter how your heart is grieving_  
_If you keep on believing_  
_The dream that you wish will come true_

Lucy walked to the steps, where she held her hand out to Joe. He stepped up and loosely held her hand as she continued singing.

_A dream is a wish your heart makes_  
_When you're feeling small, yeah_  
_Alone in the night you whisper_  
_Thinking no one can hear you at all_  
_You wake with the morning sunlight_  
_To find fortune that is smiling on you_  
_Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow_  
_For all you know, tomorrow_  
_The dream that you wish will come true, oooh, yeah_

_A dream is a wish your heart makes_  
_When you're fast asleep_  
_In dreams you lose your heartaches_  
_Whatever you wish for, you keep_

_You wake with the morning sunlight_  
_To find fortune that is smiling on you_  
_Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow_  
_For all you know, tomorrow_  
_The dream that you wish will come true_  
_No matter your heart is grieving_  
_If you keep on believing_  
_The dream that you wish will come true_  
_Ooh, yeah, come true_

As she came to the end of the song, she leaned in and gave Joe a soft and gently, sweet kiss while the rest of the family broke out into cheers for them. Joe couldn't have asked for a better gift from her. A better moment to show off a woman that stole his heart so soon.

This was really a gift that could melt a heart.

And maybe it did.

* * *

**Well, what did you all think? Me, I'm actually kind of proud of this chapter. A little long for my taste but it was good enough for me. With the size of Joe's family I'm having a hard time keeping them straight.**


	33. Chapter 33

Nessa watched that video over and over again, the video that Trinity had sent to her, Colby and Jon. Out of respect for Lucy and Joe, no one posted it on the internet. It was just a close family ordeal that would be forever enjoyed. Now as the group of friends waited for the lovebirds to arrive at JFK airport in New York, it was all Nessa could do to keep her attention occupied.

Sophia tapped the blonde on the shoulder, making her look up. Sometimes it was difficult for Nessa to remember that Sophia was deaf, she would speak to Sophia when her back was turned only to have Colby step in and tell Sophia that Nessa was speaking.

"Are you watching that video again?" Sophia asked.

"Yeah, I can't help it. Sometimes I'm a sap, you know. I wonder if Jon can ever be like that."

"Be like what, a romantic?"

Nessa nodded, sighing. "It's not that I don't mind our explosive sexcapades, it's just I wish we could have tender moments where neither of us are being asses to the other."

"Pain equals pleasure." Sophia said. "But sometimes pleasure comes in many forms, not just with sex."

"At first that's all I ever wanted. I wanted him for one reason and that was it. Somewhere along the way it changed from just sex to just to wanting to be around him at all times. I didn't ask for him to stick with me when he had a week off, with no signings and no appearances, while I worked a Friday house show. He asked me out on a few dates, but is it easy for me to say that I want what Joe and Lucy have? What you and Colby have."

"I have a wolf, you have a psycho and Lucy has this strange Samoan softy. I don't think any of us what the other wants. Colby wants to see me more often because Jon and Joe gets to see you and Lucy on a daily basis. I have to go back to Iowa at the end of the summer because I have to go back to my teaching job. He worries if I don't text or Skype him for an entire day."

Jon walked up behind Nessa, pulling her towards him so that he could rest his chin against her head. "What are you two talking about."

Sophia let out a strangled scream when Colby picked her up, even while she was holding Kevin in her arm and spun her around. Passerbys were looking at the two strangely, even the four as Jon and Nessa were laughing at their antics.

"Did I read your lips correctly?" Colby signed to Sophia as he turned her towards him once he put her down. "Did you call me a wolf?"

"Werewolf would be a better answer." She retorted.

"At least I am not a vampire, otherwise you would have to endure this..." He bent his head and began nipping at the junction between her neck and shoulder. Because of his beard, it tickled a lot more than what she was used to.

Lucy heard her friend scream, or tried to scream, as she fought off Colby with one hand while she held her service dog in the other. It was in vain, Colby had his arms wrapped firmly around her waist holding her to him. Glancing at Joe, the both of them approached their friends in the middle of the airport.

"Hi, Nessa." Lucy's voice caused the commotion to go quiet. "How was LA?"

"You little bitch!" Nessa pushed Jon's arms off her and wrapped her shorter friend in a giant bear hug. "Don't you ever scare me like that again, do you hear me."

She didn't know Nessa would go from calm and collected, to a PMSing weirdo on steroids in seconds. It was either that or she was really a Bipolar Bitch as Nessa claimed on several occasions. Never the less, Lucy was glad to see her friend again.

"I hear you, Nessa, I do." Lucy smiled at her. "But can we get out of here, I'm really tired."

"Okay, come on." Jon said, prying his girlfriend off of Lucy. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

About a hour and a half later, they were in Connecticut and going to a hotel for the night. The next day, on Saturday, would be a signing in the morning and Lucy was slightly worried about that. But it's not the reason why she couldn't go to sleep.

"Joe..." Lucy whispered as she lay in bed.

"Yeah..." His voice rumbled from behind her as Joe struggled to find sleep.

"I'm not tired."

He moved so that his chin was resting on her shoulder. "I thought you were."

"I just wanted to get out of the airport. I saw Randy watching us. And I was thinking about something you said a while back."

Joe moved her hair from her neck, kissing it. "Yeah, what's that?"

"i...um...want to try something new. I want you to take me in the doggy. Did I say it right?" She said, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Are you sure?" He kissed her bare shoulder, since she was wearing a tank top to bed.

"Yes. I want you to touch me again. I want you to wear me out." She ran her foot over his shin.

Joe rolled her over onto her back, kissing her deeply as he settled himself between her legs. "Can you do something for me in return?"

"What?"

"I want to feel you suck me, Baby. I want to feel your fucking sexy mouth on my cock." He was growing more wild as she worked his boxers off with her feet. Joe liked how she did that, since her hands were busy with pulling his hair.

Touching became more frantic, more sure on Lucy's behalf. She found out that Joe liked to talk bad fairly quickly, like during their bathroom antics a few days ago. And it didn't bother her, which she thought it would. After Joe got her out of her tank top, and her underwear, he tugged her up by the back of her head and then moved them towards the edge of the bed. She loved touching Joe's cock, she just didn't know if she could suck him.

"It's okay if you don't." Joe caressed her hair as she stared at it.

"You tasted me the first time, I should repay you the favor." Lucy stroked him a few more times before she gently kissed the crown of Joe's cock.

Slowly, almost too painfully slow in Joe's mind, Lucy took more of him as she became used to the feeling in her mouth. With her sensory system usually hightened by sound and by taste, she was taking it slowly so not to overwhelm herself. But when Joe felt her tongue massaging the underside of his cock, he head fell back and a low groan escaped him.

Lucy held him in one spot by holding him at the back of his thigh as she worked his cock with her mouth. It was trying to suck and bob her head at the same time as she rubbed him with her tongue. While she sucked him Lucy was jerking him at the base, working him closer to his release, a release he didn't want her to experience with her mouth.

"Babygirl, stop. Please, stop." He held her head, stopping her. "I want to give you your fantasy now."

Releasing him with a popping noise, she nodded. Joe instructed for her to get up on the bed and to get on her hands and knees. She did without question, looking over her shoulder as he crawled up behind her. Her shoulders were down, her knees apart and she bit her lip as Joe touched her sensative opening.

"You're so wet for me, Baby." He said, licking his finger hungrily. "Do I make you wet?"

"Yes." She whispered the answer as she felt his hands on her backside. "I could always wear that bikini you like so much."

"No," Joe leaned down and bit her, sort of hard to make her jump before smoothing it down with a series of kisses. "No, it would hide you from me and I want to see every bit of you. I want to bury my cock deep inside of you, feeling you grip me tightly."

He reached for the nightstand, pulling a small square packet from the drawer. Lucy heard the tearing of the small object and watched as Joe rolled a condom onto his cock. Soon, soon he would be in her, filling her to the brim. And he didn't give her a chance to wait as he drove into her.

This wasn't love making, this was a fantasy come true. He pounded her fast and hard, as he gripped her hips, pushing into her with a hunger. Joe showed her his dominant side, biting at her back and shoulder and she took it. She took it because she loved the feeling he gave her. It was primal, a new feeling to her. She'd seen him in the ring acting like a caveman, now here he was using that aggression on her.

"Mine, all mine." Joe hooked his arm right arm with her right leg, lifting in ninety degrees as he changed position so that he could get more of himself into her. "Oh God, you are mine. All mine."

"Yes, yes...I'm yours, Joe. My man, my lover." She cried as she reached down to rub her clit.

Soon they both rode out a glorious release, which Lucy brought on Joe's with hers. Joe collapsed onto Lucy as her head rested on the bed. Her small body spasming from that experience.

"I didn't scare you, did I?" Joe asked as he settled behind her, pulling the covers over them.

"No. I actually enjoyed it." She smiled at him over her shoulder. "But you bit me too hard on the shoulder. I think I might get a bruise."

"It's okay, just wear a shirt that will cover it up."

Lucy yawned, snuggling into the comfort of Joe's arm. She loved the feeling of him with her, touching her, just being there when it felt like she was alone to the world. She didn't have to worry about anything, except for the feeling of Joe being there with her. Being there for her. If she didn't have most of her family then she had Joe to rely on.

John had heard the familiar noise coming from his sisters room, the familiar sounds of two people getting it on. His sister, his little sister, the one that he was supposed to protect. She was in the throws of bliss while his world seemed to be crumbling down around him. He had been poised to knock but then he heard the sickening sounds, sounds he never wanted to hear from her room, he stopped.

He shook his head and walked away.

* * *

**Well, what do you think? **


	34. Chapter 34

Even though Sophia couldn't hear what was being said while watching Lucy on the monitor, she could tell her friend was having a hard time. She and Nessa were watching the skit between Team Rhodes Scholars and Lucy during the live episode of Raw. The creative thought that it would be a good thing to drag out this autistic thing from last Monday, and to give Ambrose some air time before he goes into Money in The Bank with these two men.

Lucy had been filmed standing in a hall working on her tablet. Team Rhode Scholars appeared on the scene, practically pinning Lucy to the wall, one of the things she hated the most around people she don't know. Hugging the tablet to her chest, she looked up at the two men.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" She calmly asked.

"It just amazes me how much this company will let any slack jaw mouth breather into it's ranks." Sandow said, earning a laugh from Rhodes.

This was a skit after all, and Lucy knew that what was coming up was preplanned, but she still hated it. They were playing off of what The Bellas had said the week prior, Creative thought it would be a good idea to have The Shield intervene on behalf of their PA, and to heat up the Money in the Bank Pay-Per-View that was coming up.

"So you think I'm stupid as well?"

"I mean it's obvious." Rhodes motioned to her. "I wonder why The Shield likes you so much. You're dumb enough to work with them..."

"I didn't have a choice in the matter, Mr. Cody." Lucy said, interjecting in that statement. "As for how they treat me, it really isn't anyone's business."

"Somehow I think that is unacceptable. Your talents wasted on three men that hide in the shadows while I stand in the glorious light, trying to enlighten ignoramous people like you." Sandow poised himself, puffing out his chest as he did so.

Lucy blinked at him. "Have I ever done anything to either of you? Have I said anything inappropriate towards you or about you?"

"Why should that make a difference?" Cody asked.

"It makes a difference to me. You only know a little, that makes you the ignorant ones. All you can do is pass judgment on me, and I've done nothing to either of you. Why can't you just leave me alone in my own peace?"

"Where's the fun in that? I like letting people know how stupid they are compared to me."

There was a roar-like sound, and out of the corner of the scene a mass of black hair and black clothing charged through. Roman Reigns speared Sandow away from Lucy, while Seth Rollins took on the unsuspecting Cody Rhodes.

"Go!" Ambrose ordered Lucy, grabbing her arm slightly and pulling her away from the frey of men beating each other up. "Get out of here!"

And she did. She left in a hurry, holding her tablet and her hand to her chest. In all the skits that she had ever been in, Lucy never was in one where there was a fight going on around her. She was scared, beyond scared but she stayed on her mark and the two men that had approached her stayed on theirs, making the scene go smoothly. Lucy silently waited around until it was all over, with The Shield being victorious over Team Rhode Scholars. Once everything had gone off the air, Lucy approached Cody Runnels as he was still on the floor after Colby and Jon had moved off from him.

"Here, let me help you up." She said, making the man look at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. At least I didn't have your boyfriend to contend with."

"Trust me, you're lucky Rollins got you. I'm sure Joe's spears hurt." Lucy glanced at Joe who was straightening out his vest.

Damian bid them adieu before he and Cody left to prepare for their matches that night. This left Lucy with The Shield, once again.

"You were great, Babygirl." Joe said, kissing her head.

"Thanks, Sweetie. All of you were great. Hey, I was wondering something...group dinner tonight after the show? We've been so busy since last Friday, I think I would like to sit down with Nessa and Sophia and have a good time."

"Sounds great with me." Colby spoke up. "What about you, Jon?"

"Don't mind, sounds good to me. That leaves you, Big Man."

"I don't want to deny Lucy her friends, so sure. Since she had to put up with my family back in Pensacola. She finally met Rakishi."

"His family is nothing but huggers. I got a triple sister sandwhich hug when I left with Joe. His sisters call me sister, and I got called daughter by Mr. Sika. They're all really nice people, nice and loud, but they accept me."

"Wish I was that lucky," Trinity walked up with Ariane and the two men from Tons of Funk. "Simone loves you to death. How's it going, Luce?"

"It's okay. Is Sophia in the makeup room by any chance?"

"Yeah, she is. Are you walking down to the ring with Joe and Colby?"

"I was told I have to. The writers want to see more of me involved with the guys while still being a face." Lucy said, looking at her watch. "I have to go, I want to talk to Nessa and Sophia."

Maybe five feet from where he was supposed to wait with Colby for their entrance through the crowd, Joe felt a hand on his shoulder before he was spun around. He found himself being faced with John Cena, who didn't look none too thrilled with Joe at the moment. The Samoan had hoped that he wouldn't run into Lucy's brother for a while, hoping that the strain would just go away, but apparently John found something else to gripe at.

"What the hell are you doing fucking my sister? And don't lie, I heard you and her getting it on last night."

Yep, that would be one of them.

"Look, John, what your sister and I do is our business. It's not really anyone else's business what we do in our relationship." Joe tried stepping back from him.

"My sister was better off without you in her life. She was a good person, now she's throwing every moral she has had away. For what, a fucking asshole like you." John looked Joe over from head to toe. "She had good friends, the right friends, they were people I can trust...now she's around people like you and your family, no that's not right."

"My family? My family has good people in it. You better not say anything about my family like that again, Cena. Because right now, to my family she is family." Joe glared right back at John.

"She is family, to us. Someone has to be." Joshua said walking up, wearing his Uso ring gear, his face freshly painted. "Maybe she needs a family when the one that she has now doesn't think she needs anyone else."

"Maybe our family is just the one she needs." Jonathan added.

"But how about we let her decide on that." Joe finished, feeling pride as his cousins closed in on John at his side while Joe stood directly in front of him. "The only one that seems to really worry about her and not some dumb public look would be your brother Dan. He calls more often than your parents, and it seems like all I ever see is Lucy cry or get extremely pissed off after those calls. Who's the one there that comforts here? You're looking at him."

John shook his head. "That's bullshit and you know it. Once my mother finds out you forced Lucy into having sex with you...we'll make damn sure you'll never see my sister again."

Colby furrowed his brows, staring at his phone. This was disconcerting, being able to read lips was something he picked up from Sophia, Colby may not have heard what John said but he could read John's lips. Sending Sophia the video and telling her to read Cena's lips, Colby put his phone down as Joe, Joshue and Jonathan approached.

"Can this get anymore piss poor?" Joshua asked, tugging at a braid.

"Do you think he would actually do that, make Lucy never see Joe again?" His brother questioned.

"Anything is possible with that family. I need to get a hold of Dan, maybe he can clear this up a little better for me." Joe said. "But we have that match with Tons of Funk and I don't want her preocuppied with this during the show."

* * *

Lucy stared across the ring at The Funkadactyls. Roman and Seth were against the two large men known as Tons of Funk, and it had been a back and forth battle between the two groups. Lucy had walked down via entrance ramp, like a normal performer would, while Roman and Seth entered through the crowd. She had made if very clear to everyone, that was something she was not comfortable with doing.

Acting professional was an interesting feat for Lucy, especially now because the two good divas were back to making fun of her, in a dancing kind of way. They made their way around the ring towards Lucy in their seventies boots, making them look like they were on stilts. Backing away from the ring, she allowed the women to get up in her face.

This was getting interesting, Lucy thought as she caught Roman watching the two dancing divas degrade her for not having any dancing skills. Lucy had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at how rediculous her two real life friends were being, especially now that they were trying to intimidate her as Naomi and Cameron. But she didn't 'buy' into this whole thing, rather kept her calm and let the women do their thing as they all planned it.

When Brodus Clay was speared and pinned by Roman for the win, Lucy smiled at the two women as they shrieked in annoyance, crying that their team lost to The Shield. Naomi turned to Lucy in shock, mouth agaped.

"What?" Lucy's voice was muffled by all the sounds going on around her. "I didn't do anything."

She turned and walked off, Roman and Seth following behind.

"Lucy..." She looked up and found her brother John standing there. "We need to talk, right now."

Joe went to approach the two but Colby grabbed his arm. "No, Man. Let her go. She needs to do this on her own."

Smiling at her friend and boyfriend, Lucy looked back at her brother.

"Okay, John. We can talk."

John pulled Lucy into the nearest locker room, one that wasn't being used at the moment. "Do you have any idea what you've done to Randy's marriage?" John asked as he slammed the door shut.

"I haven't done anything, John. If you think I called her and told her what he did, when I was sixteen and a few weeks ago, you can bet it wasn't me." She replied. "I have more respect for Ms. Samantha for putting up with Randy. It was never my intention for any of this to happen. But how could you let him do what he did and not have the right to say something about it to someone?"

John shook his head, looking at his sister with disdain. "They've changed you, you're not my sister anymore. You're not the little sister I'm supposed to look after."

"Oh yeah, where were you most of my life when you vehemently said that you would hate me until the day I died?"

"I made a promise to Pops when you were sixteen."

"Bullshit." Lucy snapped. "You're just doing it to please them. All my life I was told that I needed to be a certain way, to behave a certain way, to have friends with yours...I know what Ma did when Sophia moved away. She started hoarding Sophia's letters, making me believe that Sophia didn't want to talk to me. Why, John? Do you know why?"

"You were depressed when she left. Mom just wanted you to be happy."

"By making me loose contact with my one and only best friend?" Lucy screeched. "And then all of a sudden you want me to loose the happiness that I have now found because the friends I have, the boyfriend I love, because they aren't the ones you want me to be with. Well I have news for you, I'm through."

"Through, what do you mean? You're quitting the WWE?"

"I quit being your sister. I'm don't want to be a Cena anymore!" She yelled when she opened the door.

She stormed out of the room, nearly running into Sheamus who had come to see what all the yelling was about. Phil turned adbruptly and followed Lucy down the hall.

* * *

**Someone mentioned they wanted to see more of The Usos in here. I think I did a pretty good job. What do you think? And don't worry, there will be a little more Punk in here to follow.**


	35. Chapter 35

Phil stopped Lucy, not by grabbing her but by running around ahead of her so that she would stop. He knew how much she didn't like to be touched by people that she didn't really know, this was the only way to make Lucy look at him. And when she did, the look on her face was so bad. He didn't think he would ever see her either so sad and so angry at the same time, if that was possible. She didn't have to say anything, Phil just knew that she needed to get back to where she belonged.

"Come on, Toots. I'll take you back to your friends."

She was sedated, detached. The moment Phil brought her to the makeup room, Nessa instantly had her in a hug. Sophia looked at CM Punk as he shrugged, not really sure what happened himself. She motioned for him to follow her, and they went outside the room while Lucy broke down crying.

"Colby sent me this." Sophia showed him the video. "You can't hear what John is saying to Joe but Colby and I can read lips. What John says to him is bad. I don't know what Joe said but I know what The Usos have said."

Once Phil heard what had happened, what had been said, he shook his head. "This does not make any sense." Sophia looked at him in worry. "John is such a good guy, but...this is not the guy I know, or knew. How can he and his family be like this to her? Because of her social issues?"

"I don't know. It seemed odd at how so suddenly she and I lost touch after I moved. She thinks that her Ma had something to do with it."

"I'm going to go find Joe and the others, maybe you should stay here."

"I plan to. Thanks for bringing her back."

Lucy was hunched over in the chair, her hands over her ears as if trying to keep things out as she cried. How could John say those things, how could he be so cruel to her? How could he be so cruel to the one person that meant so much to her?

"Babygirl." Joe knelt in front of her, prying her hands off her ears. "Hey, stop...stop this." He brushed her tears away. "I am right here, I'm right here for you."

"I don't want my family anymore. Dan is the only one, Dan and Christi are the only ones that care but the rest...they don't care for my happiness."

"But I do, Lucy. I do. I have every intention on keeping you happy. Don't think about what your family thinks about us. Think about what you think, think about what makes you happy. Do you know what makes you happy, Babygirl?"

"You, you make me happy, Joe. You, Sophia, Nessa, the guys, you all make me happy. My writing makes me happy." She said, her fingers coming up to run through his hair. "Especially you, Joe. You make me happy. This is the happiest I've been in so long. I haven't been afraid, especially of you. But I can't stop thinking..."

"Sometimes you need to stop thinking, Toots." Phil said. "Start feeling instead. Come on, I'm taking all of you to the tapings tomorrow."

We get to ride in your bus?" Nessa asked, breaking the tension. "Sweet, I get a top bunk, bitches!" Nessa ran out of the room with her kits in tow.

"How can you stand that woman?" Punk looked at Jon.

"I don't know, but if I didn't like her I wouldn't be sticking around." He said walking out behind her.

On his bus, Phil watched Joe and Lucy as they sat together in the common room. Colby and Sophia were in the kitchenette talking silently with their hands. Never in his life he had ever seen a couple where one was deaf and the other wasn't, not that he knew very many people who were deaf. But seeing Colby so intent with his girlfriend, so damn heart warming...it was a little gross in his personal opinion. Nothing could be as sweet and loving like Joe's and Lucy's relationship, or even Sophia's and Colby's.

Even Nessa and Jon with their untraditional relationship was enough to make him think of the lack of love in his life. Not that he was interested in asking Lucy out, okay maybe he did. At one point in time.

Going to his bunk, Phil pulled his phone out and then scrolled through the pictures function he had. There were pictures of Lucy in there, Lucy smiling, Lucy thinking, Lucy writing...no wonder why Randy went crazy, she was too innocent. They could mold her how they wanted, make her how they wanted...but Phil knew Joe wouldn't do that. He was there to show her what love was really like. Sometimes Phil wondered if he had been too late, if he had only gotten to her before Joe.

"Damn it, Brooks," he scolded himself. "Stop thinking like that. She's not yours, she's never been yours." He threw his phone down on the bunk next to him. He sighed and picked it back up before proceeding to delete the pictures of Lucy.

He had to get rid of all the memories of wanting a woman that he couldn't have.

"Phil..." He looked up. "May I have something to drink? Like a soda?" Lucy asked, trying to not to make eye contact with him. He could tell her eyes were red from all the crying she had been having.

"Sure, Toots. The fridge has all sorts of pop in there. Have at it." He smiled.

"Thank you."

Everyone settled in for the few hours of driving to the next tapings.

* * *

A third week of having no house shows, the oddball group made their way towards Boston in Phil's bus. Aside from a signing on Wednesday after the tapings on Tuesday, they all traveled together. Lucy had withdrawn a little, instead of being in the middle of Nessa's crazy antics she watched from the sidelines. Joe tried to get her to open up, but Phil could see something was bothering her.

While Joe was sleeping, and Lucy was writing in the common room of the bus, Phil walked in. The problems with insomnia, it seemed to plague him when his mind was worried and he was worried for this girl.

"Hey, Toots. How's things going?" He asked.

Her pencil hovered over the paper, like she was trying to find the words but when they didn't come she sighed in defeat. Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, she looked up at Phil and the look she had broke his heart. She was lost and he could see it.

"I don't know what to do."

"About what?"

"I said something to John, something that my Ma keeps trying to talk me out of. I had to shut my phone off just so I couldn't hear her voice."

Phil sat across from her. But neither were aware of the Samoan lingering awake on the bunk next to the door. He could hear them perfectly. It's not that Joe wanted to pry into their conversation but...he was curious.

"What happened?" Phil calmly asked.

"John told me that the reason why I lost contact with Sophia was because Ma with held her mail from me. I would write letter after letter to her but she just wouldn't write one back. After a while I just gave up and stopped." Her lip quivered, a fresh wave of tears coming back. "I told him that I didn't want to be a Cena anymore, even though Dan and I are the closet as brother and sister, I don't want the rest of them there. So I'm looking into changing my name."

"Back to your real name, the one before the Cena's adopted you?"

"Yeah. Ferguson, my real parents were from Ireland before coming to America. Teachers, Dad taught soccer and Mom was a high school English teacher. Maybe that's where I get my love of writing." Lucy mused even though she was choking up. "Dan wants me to come visit before Raw on Monday, he wants to meet Joe."

"And you're nervous?"

"Dan was always the brother I went to. We grew up together, we basically lived together after I was nearly raped by a family friend of Pops'. Him and Christi were the constant ones in my life. Little Cece started getting interested in dinosaurs and animals because of me."

Joe smirked at what she was saying.

"Dan's a good guy. He has never said one bad thing about Joe, and Christi asks if he's doing okay whenever she calls. I mean, Ma calls because of something she sees or hears, mostly hearing it from John at this point. Pops calls less than Ma does. My other brothers, sure they call to see how things are but...not like Dan. What I don't understand is why now, why now John has to be a damn ass about Joe, about being friends with his friends? Then there's this issue with Randy."

"Becuase I think he fell in love with you, or in love with the idea of you." Phil said.

She looked at him. "Randy has no right to feel anything for me after all the shit he's done to me, Joe...lying to John and Ms. Samantha."

"You're right, but seeing you with Joe made everything snap in him, I think. Now he's on the verge of having a divorce, maybe never seeing his daughter anymore..."

"And everyone blames me, because I was the one that spoke up."

"They don't blame you, Toots. If anything I think you made them aware. If you hadn't blown The Bellas scheme in the locker room, in front of the McMahons and Triple H, broken script on television, no one would have been the wiser. You solved the mystery. You broke the case. Now the real attackers are being punished for their wrong doings."

"You sound like an ID television show, or one of the mystery dramas from like TNT or something." Lucy smirked, wiping her eyes. "I met a lot of Joe's family, people I don't know who seem to love me."

"Yeah? How did that go?"

"I sang a Disney song to Joe in front of everyone, confessing my heart to him. I think Trinity or one of The Usos has a copy of it. You should ask them. They are a big bunch of loud people, don't get me wrong they are all really nice but when you get a lot of them together, it's a party." She told him about Joe finding her on the beach, and the conversation they shared. "I still feel like an outcast but...it's easier to accept that he cares about me no matter what."

"I can see it. I see it every time I see you two together." Phil reached out and placed a hand on hers. "And I'm so happy that you found your happiness, Lucy. I just wish your family could see it, too."

She wished that, too.

* * *

**Yep, wise old Punk. So what did you all think? **


	36. Chapter 36

Boston had the worst traffic anywhere in the United States, it was difficult to drive anywhere with it's many streets and passes named the same way. To Lucy this city was the place she had called home for a long time, even if driving was the worst thing to do in Boston. But to walk, wasn't all that difficult to do.

"I want to show all of you something." Lucy declared to the group as they were checking into a hotel in Boston on Friday. "It's actually not far from here, a mile walk. It's something special to me. You can come along, too, Phil if you want." She said looking at the punk superstar.

"Sure, okay. None of us has anything better to do today." He responded.

Joe was confused but he went along with it. In a line of two by two, with the exception of Phil bringing up the rear, they followed Lucy from the hotel and headed south of the Mariot. No one really said anything, because it was like a silence had fallen over the girl they considered a friend, a sister and a lover, in Joe's case.

They turned into a cemetary, and Lucy's steps turned more fast. She tugged Joe along the rows of headstones and green grass until near the South Central part of the cemetary she came to a stop in front of two headstones. All Lucy did for a moment was stare at these stones that read **_Eileen and Patrick Ferguson Born in Ireland - Died December 8th, 1991._**

"December 8th, my birthday." She said, kneeling down so that she could take the dead flowers off the graves. "It was a rare thunder storm that happened that night, lightning and rain, mixing with the snow and ice. We went to see Cirque Du Soleil as a birthday gift for me. Some birthday that turned out to be."

Sophia already knew this story, she heard it a hundred times before and she even came to see Lucy's parents' headstones with her on several different occasions. She held onto Colby's arm, holding Kevin in her arms and looked at Nessa, who was holding onto Jon tightly. She had never seen Nessa cry before. This odd woman was strange as it was, but Nessa really was human.

"My ring, the one on my left ring finger, I took it off of Mom's hand. It was her claddagh wedding ring. I somehow knew, as a five year old, that I would never see it again. So I took it, I held onto it with all my life even as the rescue people cut me from the car." Lucy looked at her hand. "I don't have a lot of my birth parents things anymore, most are the memories that I do have of them. John kept telling me that I need to talk to Stephan about Ireland, maybe I could understand where they came from. But I was always too scared."

"Why?" Joe asked. "Why were you too scared?"

"Because then I would want to go there, to see if I could find other family members that might know them. I had this conversation with Ma when I was a teenager. She said if I did that, then they would take me away and I would never see my family again. Made me think that I was selfish because I wanted to know my real family, just to feel closer to them. It felt like I was loosing touch with everything for a while. I went with the motions but...nothing felt real. Until I met you guys, met Joe. Then I started to feel again."

Joe knelt down behind Lucy. "I am so glad to have met your parents, Lucy. I bet they are smiling right now, knowing that their little girl has grown up into a woman you are, loving a man like me. I bet they never stopped loving you."

She turned around to look at him. He just wanted her to feel better, he wanted her to know that she was going to be loved by the living or by the dead. Taking her into his arms, he placed a kiss on her forehead, and while Joe held her he looked at the names on the headstone they were sitting in front of.

* * *

The man known as Sheamus looked up from the lunch he was having with Stu Bennett and Drew Galloway. Stephen Farrelly had gotten a call from CM Punk earlier, at the request of Lucy's boyfriend, for them to meet up. He didn't know what this was about but he agreed because it was Cena's little sister that they were doing this for. Yet when he saw her walk into the restaurant, with her hand joined with Roman Reigns' hand, he frowned.

Stephen had been told to go after Lucy in a romantic way. John told him he was someone she could be trusted with. But when he heard that Cena threatened Stu and Drew about going anywhere near her, he stopped his pursuits. He didn't want to loose his friends over a woman they couldn't have, a woman they couldn't have pursued because her brother was John Cena. Yet he had heard some of the things that had been going on with Lucy lately, none of it good. He had seen the way she was with Joe and the others, he saw how happy she was. He didn't want to ruin that either. She had a smile he adored.

"Hey guys, thanks for meeting with us." Phil said as the three Europeans stood up from the table. "This means a lot to us."

"Anything for friends, mate." Stu said holding his hand out to Joe. "How's it been for you?"

"Been better actually." Joe responded shaking the Englishman's hand. "I was hoping Stephen could fill Lucy in on some things."

"Sit." Stephen motioned to the three empty seats for them. "I would love to tell you what I know, but I don't think I do know what you want me to tell you."

"Can you tell me about Ireland?" She asked, not looking at him directly.

"How do you mean?" Drew asked. "Why would you want to know about Ireland?"

"My real parents aren't John's parents. My real parents are Eileen and Patrick Ferguson, they came from Ireland. They died in a car crash on my fifth birthday here in Boston." She said, glancing at Stu. "I always thought to know where you came from, you can get an idea where you came from. Momma was a teacher, an English teacher, and my Dad taught soccer, um football. I played it through out my youth but Ma and Pops didn't like it. They either told me I was foolish or...they just forgot about me, was more worried about my brothers' American football stuff."

"They forgot about you, Lass?" Stephen was floored, not really believing what was being told. "Are you sure about that?"

"I was quiet, really quiet half of the time. But yeah, sometimes they would forget that I was even home, or hadn't returned from school, except Dan. My brother Dan. He always looks out for me" She looked at Joe, who stayed quiet for this.

"So, are you going to tell her about Ireland because if not...well I think Joe and I can show her a good time with a round of bowling." Phil said, pushing his seat back from the table.

"It's green." Drew spoke up, making Lucy look at him. "It's really green. That's why it's called The Emerald Isle. What part did your parents come from?"

"County Kildare."

"Ah, we stayed mainly in Dublin. Ste and I trained in Irish Whip Wrestling together for some years. Have you ever been there?" He asked leaning forward.

"I've never left the States and before working with the WWE I've never left Massachusetts." She said, Joe could feel her loosen up some as her attention turned to the long haired Scotsman. "What's Dublin like?"

Joe remained silent, relishing in Lucy warming up to a few Europeans. He glanced at Phil, who also remained quiet throughout the telling of old tales of Irish lore, and they both shared a smile with one another. This was what Lucy needed, she needed to know where her heritage was, to know where she came from. And she was finally looking at them in the face, each man telling her some of the things about Dublin in particular. She would laugh at a joke Stephen told, or made a comment about something...and she was transfixed on this moment. Forgetting they had to go see her brother Dan tomorrow.

"I want to go there one of these days." He heard her say, Joe looking up from the beer he was drinking. "I want to know what it looks like for myself. Maybe find some relatives I didn't know I had. Maybe learn something about my real family."

Maybe that's what she needed, to find out what her real parents were like.

Maybe that's what Joe could give her.

* * *

**Well, there it is. How did you guys like it?**


	37. Chapter 37

On Saturday, it was evening when Dan smiled at Joe and Lucy as they stood on his front step after the cab brought them to West Newbury. "I could have picked you guys up." Dan said, hugging his sister.

"I know, but...we didn't want to be a bother. Joe, this is my brother Dan. Dan, this is my boyfriend Joe Anoa'i." Lucy said, introducing them.

"Nice to meet you, Man." Dan gave the bigger man one of those male bonding hugs, complete with shoulder bumps. "Come on in, the girls are waiting for you."

"Aunt Lucy." A little blonde girl with pig tails, maybe about four years old, came running into the front room, throwing herself into Lucy's arms. "I missed you, Aunt Lucy."

"I missed you, too, Cece." She smiled while holding the girl on her hip as she stood up. "Do you want to meet Aunt Lucy's friend, Joe. Joe, this is my niece Cece Cena. And this is my sister-in-law Christi."

The woman who walked in from the kitchen was kind, and had a big smile on her face when seeing Joe. "The man that makes my sister smile. It's so good to meet you. Are you hungry, did you need anything?" And she was really, really blonde hair. Almost white blonde.

"Um..." Joe started to say. Well he wasn't sure what to say to the woman.

"I'll take your things to Lucy's room. We were just making dinner when you two arrived. I hope you don't mine spaghetti." Dan said, taking two suitcases in his hands.

"That sounds great. I haven't had a home cooked meal in a long time." Joe said as Christi guided them into the kitchen.

Dinner was a nice thing for Joe. He could see how Cece had talked animatedly to Lucy about some of the things she missed out. Like she decided she was going to play soccer during the summer with a group of other kids.

"Grandma says I shouldn't play soccer." Cece said.

"But I told Grandma she's not raising Cece, I am." Christi said as she picked up Joe's empty plate in front of him. "Cece, why don't you go find a book to read before you have to go to bed."

"Can Uncle Joe read to me?" The little girl asked, making the adults stop what they were doing.

"Sure, honey. Joe can read to you." Lucy said, looking at the Samoan.

It was amazing to see how well Joe got along with Cece, Lucy smiled at the sight of Joe reading to the little girl on the couch in the front room. He held the girl under his arm while he read the book to her, and she was falling asleep in her little PJs with a stuffed animal held snugly in her arms. This was what she wanted in the future, to see her husband holding his daughter or son like this, enjoying time together. Was she ready for that, Lucy asked herself as she watched Dan pick his daughter up.

"He's good with kids." Christi said watching Joe put the book back on the shelf. "She's taken a liking to him."

"His younger cousin, a teenager named Simone Johnson, The Rock's daughter, loves me just the same. His entire family has accepted me and all my faults."

"You don't have faults, Lucy. You just behave differently, that's all." Christi told her. "And besides, shouldn't you be more worried about what Joe thinks of you than anyone else?"

"I know but...not when you and Dan are the only ones that think Joe is good for me."

"Is this still about what that Bella girl did? I've had enough of your Ma telling me that you were a liar. I had to shut her out when she came bitching to me about finding out you were with Joe. And trust me, I was not really thrilled about your choice in man for a while until I got the real story from Dan. After that, well, I accepted that Joe made you happy and if he made you happy then I was happy."

"I just wish Ma and Pops were the same way."

"Maybe they will. Tomorrow everyone's coming over for a party."

"What?" Lucy spun around to look at her.

"Lucy, you have to face them some time or another." Christi stopped washing dishes to look at Lucy. "If they see how well Joe is with Cece, and with your other nieces and nephews, maybe then they will get off your back."

"But John will be here, and you know..."

"Forget about John, Lucy. He can't run your life for you, no matter how badly Ma and Pops wants that to happen. You're a big girl, you should start wearing your big girl panties and move on. Let them get all pissed off and mope and groan about it. They'll get over it, eventually. I did."

"Hey." Joe said from the doorway. "I thought we could go for a walk, you know...try to get tired before tomorrow."

"Sure, I'll show you the river where I catch the best looking frogs." Lucy said, smiling.

The next morning Joe woke up first, like he usually did but this time for a different reason. He felt a small body bouncing on the bed, calling out to Aunt Lucy and Uncle Joe. Okay, that caught his attention. Lifting his head up, standing on the bottom of the bed was Cece, still in her PJs and still holding the teddy bear from last night.

"Cece, Aunt Lucy is still sleeping." His girlfriend groaned, trying to get her head under the covers. "It's six in the morning. What are you doing up so early?"

"Go back to sleep, I'll tend to her." Joe said pushing back the covers. "Come on, small fry. I'll give you a piggy back ride to the kitchen. Hop on." He said, presenting his bare back to the girl.

She happily accepted his invitation and hopped on, wrapping her little arms around his neck and her legs around his middle. Then she screech in pure joy as he carried her out of Lucy's room, making sure to close it behind her. Not that it did any good, Lucy was wide awake. She remembered that the family was coming over to see Christi because of some big family news she wanted to share with everyone. First thing on the agenda for Lucy was to get a shower.

When Lucy returned to her bedroom, Joe was sitting on the bed with a shoe box. The shoe box didn't contain naughty pictures, it was a handful of pictures that Lucy managed to salvage over the years. They were pictures of her life before the Cena family came into it.

"That's Mom." Lucy pointed to the picture over Joe's shoulder, making him jump. "And that man is my Dad. I think they were in Dublin in that picture. I looked up that bar name and it's been closed for a while now." She said coming to sit down next to him. "This one is the oldest. It is when they lived in County Kildare, Southwest of County Dublin. I believe that was my grandmother." She pointed to a woman with pepper grey hair that curled around at the ends hugging Eileen Ferguson.

"This was you as a baby?" Joe picked up one of a small swaddled infant in a hospital bassinette.

"Yeah, I was small back then. Five pounds, I was underweight and quiet even as a baby." She mused. "Were you a big baby when you were born?"

"My sisters still say I am a big baby."

She pulled his hair off his shoulder, twirling a strand that was loose and curly around her finger. "At least you are cute, Baby."

* * *

Joe could see how antsy Lucy was getting as noon arrived. Dan's brother Matt showed up to help get the barbecue ready. All anyone else knew was that Christi had wanted a family gathering since everyone would be in the area at the same time. Matt looked like a younger version of John, Dan was impressive as a cop, but Matt looked like John in more ways, and body type.

"So, what are your intentions with my sister?"

Lucy had walked out of the house when she heard her brother ask Joe this. Neither noticed her as it was so she decided she was going to hear what Joe had to say.

"My intentions are for her to grow as a person."

"By changing her?" Matt asked.

"I haven't done anything with that. That is all her doing. She's changing because she wants to. Lucy has every right to be what she wants in life without everyone dictating how she is going to live."

"She doesn't have that ability to know what she wants."

"I don't?" They both turned to look at her. "Well then why the hell do I have a boyfriend? Better yet, why the hell do I have the friends that I do?"  
"They..."

"Stop, Matt. I mean Mini-John." Lucy walked up to him and actually poked him in the chest. "I've had it up to my eyeballs with everyone telling me what to do and who to do it with. It's been my choice all along. If you don't like my life, get the hell out of it then."

"Dude, I've never seen you this pissed, Lucy. I'm actually digging it." Dan said, appearing out on the deck. "Hey Joe, just a heads up. John's on his way and he's bringing company. Don't go clawing out her eyes, Lucy."

"I don't know how to fight, Dan. And I don't have claws." She held up her hands. "Did you hide the baseball bats."

"Yep, and the golf clubs and all the sharp pointy objects." Dan glanced at Joe. "She may be a timid little thing, but she has a baseball arm and a great swing if you put something in her hand. Her little league team went state several times, thanks to her."

"There's no I in Team, Dan." Lucy said, walking around her brother.

Dan looked at Joe, nodding at him before looking at his older brother. "Fuck, Matt. what have you been doing? Believing all of John's shit all these years?"

"She's autistic, she doesn't know what she wants." He tried defending himself.

"She's not autistic," chorused Joe and Dan together. "She may have symptoms of it but she doesn't have it. And why is that even an excuse anymore?" Joe finished.

"And why does Mom and Dad think that she's been a liar all the times that she came to us when someone hurt her. First Randy and then Dane, the serial rapist she helped catch." Dan had to explain that to Joe. "And then when she said that she was having issues with Nikki, everyone told her that she was lying, that Nikki and Brie were good people. Well look at what happened, it was all real. And here you are, defending your actions against one of the few people that she trusts with her life. Shit...if this didn't mean so much to Christi, your ass would be out the front door. So you better treat him with respect in my house, or you can leave right now."

Joe saw the passion Dan had for his sister, for Lucy. She was his family, even if the others weren't treating her as one. Joe knew that he would honor her in any way, he wanted her to stay in Dan's life, to have at least one family member that was on her side.

"To call her a liar is to call me a liar because I was the one that stopped Randy when she was sixteen. I don't appreciate being called a liar."

They were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Joe followed Dan through the house, glancing at Lucy as she descended the staircase from the second floor as Christi answered the door. Standing there were Lucy's parents, Carol and John Sr., and instantly the happiness left the house it seemed. They looked even more prim and proper than Joe had thought they would look. The pictures of Lucy's real parents were more warm and inviting, not these two.

"Lucina, there you are. Come give your mother a hug." Carol said, opening her arms to his girlfriend.

She had no choice, she had to do it. Lucy walked to her parents and hugged them each, though stiffly but she still did it. Joe stood next to Dan who hadn't said a thing.

"What did that woman do to your hair?" Carol asked touching Lucy's slightly redder hair. "You look stupid."

"I like it, Ma." Lucy defended herself. "And stop calling me stupid."

"I said it makes you look stupid, I didn't say you were, sweetie." Carol replied as if the statement made a difference. "So that's him, isn't he?" Now her blue eyes were on Joe, as was John Senior's as well.

"Ma, Pops, that's Leati Joe Anoa'i. Joe, this is my Ma, Carol and my Pops John Cena Senior." Lucy said moving towards him.

"It's nice to meet you both finally." Joe offered his hand to John Senior, who didn't incline to shake it.

"Joe, could you help me set up the chairs in the backyard?" Dan asked. "I could use the help."

"Sure. I'll see you in a while, Babygirl." Joe specifically ignored Carol's odd noise as he lightly touched Lucy's upper back before he walked out of the room.

"What do you think you're doing bringing that man here?" John Sr. asked, his voice raising. "After what he did to you."

"What did he do to me?"

"He made you...he made you have sex with him." Carol said.

Lucy didn't say anything, just stared at her parents. Did she just say what she thought she said?

"What did you just say about Joe?"

"He forced you into having sex with you." Carol repeated.

"What you mother means is he talked you into abandoning your morals." John Sr. clarified. "I mean, you never wanted sex before marriage."

"That's because you pounded into my head that good girls didn't have sex before marriage. Boys were different, they could do anything they wanted because they were boys. But girls, girls had to be good little girls, they had to obey their parents because that's what they were supposed to do. You dictated my happiness."

"We only wanted what's best for your, Lucina." Carol tried to rationalize for her.

"No, you only wanted what was best for you." Lucy's voice started to raise. "I know what you did with Sophia's letters. I know you made John 'look' out for me when he didn't want to. My happiness was always your happiness, it's what you wanted of me. Your control and when I decided to get control for me, you blame Joe."

"Honey...you don't know what you're talking about."

"I've applied to have my name changed." Lucy suddenly said turning around to head towards the back door. "Soon, I won't be your daughter anymore."

Joe looked up when Lucy burst through the back door. He could see that she was crying and he could hear Carol calling out to her. Dan nodded to Joe, a silent tell that he was letting Joe do his thing. Joe took off into the forest after Lucy, remembering that she had been on the soccer team growing up. He had to take faster strides to catch up with her.

"Lucy!" Joe called. "Babygirl, stop!"

He caught up with her, wrapping an arm around her middle. She fought, she struggled, Lucy didn't want anyone to touch her, to talk to her. It felt like her entire body was electrified and it hurt. It felt like stinging bees, like bass drums in her ears...then she collapsed.

* * *

**Well, that went well. What do you guys think? **


	38. Chapter 38(Repost)

**Okay, this is a repost for this chapter. I really didn't like the way it ended so I decided to give it another go. **

* * *

It hurt to know that they only wanted what they wanted for themselves. And she cried because of that. She cried because it hurt to know Ma didn't want her to be friends with a deaf girl. Lucy cried because they didn't want her happy. She cried because they thought that she couldn't understand what was right for her. She cried because Joe was in the middle of it all.

Joe held on to her, holding he close as he whispered in her ear. Her crying, from what he normally heard was different. Her hands were pressed to her ears as she screamed almost like an animal, a grunting cry that changed pitch as she rocked. It was like she was trying to get whatever was in her head out. Like she was over stimulated.

"I haven't had an episode in a while, it happened when Dane had attacked me and my Pops denied his friend wouldn't have done that. I freaked out to the point they needed to sedate me in the hospital." Lucy had told him once during a conversation. "If I ever have one again, these are the pills I'm supposed to be given." She showed him the medicine bottled and told him the dose to give her.

He didn't know what he could do, but he knew that Lucy needed help. She needed her medication to stop this episode. Picking up Lucy into his arms, Joe carried her back the way they came. Her hands over her ears, she was still rocking and screaming, crying at the same time. Holding her like this was hard to do, she just wouldn't sit still, but on his life he wasn't going to let her down, physically and emotionally.

"What the hell did you do to my sister?" Matt demanded as Joe came out of the forest with Lucy in his arms.

"It wasn't me, blame your parents. Dan! Christi! I need your help!" Joe yelled,

Christi ran out of the house, Dan followed with his parents and John and Nikki, of all people.

"Her pills are in her backpack." Joe said, looking at Christi. "They're in her room."

"Yeah, I got it." Christi turned and went back into the house.

"She don't need those pills." Carol said as Joe set Lucy down on the picnic table. "She needs her family." She had tears rolling down her face.

"Her real family died when she was five years old." Joe glanced at the older woman. "They let her be a child, the let her be what she wanted." His hands were holding Lucy's head, preventing her from rocking. "They didn't fill her head with crap, they loved her, they actually loved her. They wouldn't want her to be like this, a woman who didn't know what she wanted out of life. They wouldn't break her like this."

She was broken.

Lucina, his little light, was broken.

Joe watched Lucy rock back and forth, even when the anti-anxiety was given to her, Lucy wasn't responding. She had fought with him, making him loose his grip. She cried and screamed, she kept rocking back and forth.

"Too much, too much..." she said through gritted teeth. "Make them stop, Momma."

"Momma's here..." Carol went to reach for Lucy.

"Her Momma's six feet under." Joe said, making the woman stop. "Her Momma told her that her eyes were as green as sea turtles."

She heard him; Lucy just barely could hear him now.

"She's seen them, when she was with me." Joe continued. "We went to SeaWorld together, the first thing we did was to see the turtles."

Lucy could hear him closer, the memories fading slowly. The memories of her time with Joe, with her friends started speaking louder. All she had to do was focus on Joe, on the man that she loved...it would all go away like it had before.

"Then when she met my family she saw one closer up. We watched it together, her back to my front, her safely wrapped in my arms. She didn't have to worry about anything. She didn't have to worry about a family that made her cry. Or the bullying she got from her brother's girlfriend. She was with me. She was with friends, she was with people who called her cousin, sister, daughter. She was happy, she was proud, she didn't have to think about what you thought about any of it, she refused to let you come between her and her happiness. But look what you did...you caused this."

"Joe..." her voice was small and raspy from the crying and screaming.

He looked at her, a tear falling down his face as she pulled him to her. Lucy held onto him, breathing in his familiar scent. Joe rubbed her back as her heels hooked in behind his knees, his head leaning down on top of his.

"I want to go home." Her voice was muffled against his body before she looked at him, eyes red from crying.

"Where's home for you, Babygirl?" He asked.

"With you."

"I'll call you a cab. And I'll get your things together." Dan added, leaving with his wife. "Don't you kill him. Out of everyone here he's the one that I trust her the most with."

She wouldn't look at anyone. She just stared at the earth in front of her. Joe didn't want to leave her, not in this state but...something told him to. He said he needed to go make arrangements with the hotel leaving her there. Joe knew it was a foolish thing to do, but it had to be done.

"Lucy." She looked at John. "I'm so sorry." When she didn't answer he continued. "None of this would have happened if I'd just let you go."

"John..." Nikki grabbed his arm. "None of this would have happened if she just stayed where she was supposed to."

"Bitch." All eyes were on Lucy now. "All you said was that I'm worthless. I believed that. You said that I was not beautiful. No man would want me. When I did, when I proved you wrong...you went to my brother. Your sister was having an affair with Randy Orton, you knew this and you didn't say anything. Yes, Joe was wrong for doing the same thing she was guilty for. But you made him out to be like a monster. He's not." Lucy slowly looked up at Nikki. "You're the monster. He's my beautiful, he's my prince, my knight...he stood there while I found my footing. And all you wanted to do was take it away from me because I wasn't walking the path you wanted. My path is where my feet are."

"Lucy..." Carol started to say.

"My name is Lucina Edith Ferguson. My mother is Eileen Ferguson, my father is Patrick Ferguson. The only people I count as family are Dan and Christi. The rest of you...you're nothing more than strangers to me. I'm going home. When I get back to the WWE, I'm quiting at the end of my contract."

"And what are you going to do? Become a writer? Live off of some man's pay check? A man who says he loves you?" Carol spoke up as Lucy started walking away.

"That's not what you're supposed to do, Lucina. You're supposed to be..."

"I'm done listening to you, to all of you. As far as I'm concerned, none of you have the right to talk to me anymore." Lucy snapped. "I'm not your daughter, I never was. Have a happy life without me."

* * *

During the cab ride back to Boston, Lucy's phone rang. She reached for it and looked at the screen. "Shawn, what is it?" She asked.

Joe thought she was talking to her brother Sean, but he found that she wasn't yelling at him.

"Wait, what do you mean a judge has sped up the trial?" She asked. "I thought he took a plea deal."

Definitely not the brother Sean.

"Yeah, yeah. Just tell me when the trial stars and I will get the allotted time off. Thank you, Shawn, um, no don't tell them. We're not on real good speaking terms right now. If you want, you can, but I would rather you not. Thank you, I will." Then she hung up the cell phone. "Well that isn't what I was anticipating."

"What? What's going on, Babygirl?"

"My trial, against Dane Thomas, the man that tried to rape me, has been redone. He was supposed to have taken a plea deal but he changed his Guilty plea to Not Guilty, by reason of insanity. There is going to be a court date for next week to see if he is found sane enough to stand trial. And then the actual court proceedings will happen soon after that if he's proven competent."

"You have to be there for the court hearing?"

"Yeah, I guess. But...that means I'll have to take time off from the show and stay here for the rest of the court stuff." She motioned to the moving scenery outside the cab. "I feel better if I'm with you, the guys, I finally found Sophia after so many years."

"Look, Babygirl, let's just get you back to the hotel and we'll call Stephanie about all of this." He pushed her hair from her face. "Come on, look at me. I know you'll be strong no matter what happens. You've come a long way right now, you've fought so hard to get to where you're at right now...with me."

"I'm sick of fighting, Joe. It's too tiring."

"Nothing comes to those who wait." He said, rubbing her cheek with his thumb gently.

"Home is where the heart is, and mine's with you." She responded.

"You'll have Dan and Christi, and your niece. If the rest of them don't want to be in your life, to support you, then you have every right to forget them. You're a Ferguson, not a Cena. You have my family behind you. I'm sure Dwayne would love to drop in if he's not too busy and I'll try to get time off to come to come support you." He wiped away her silent tears. "Be strong for me, Babygirl."

"For you I will."

But being strong was hard to keep up with.

* * *

**I think I did a better job with this one. It just felt a little off from what I had written last time. This time it would give me a chance to 'fix' some broken bridges within the plot structure.**


	39. Chapter 39

Joe turned over, expect to find Lucy there but she wasn't. Lifting his head he saw her writing at a nearby table with a lamp on near her. He'd known her long enough that if she was bothered by something, she would go off either by herself or by writing. Usually when she was writing Lucy was listening to her music. The way she described it certain music had a certain feel, and if she was working on a particular scene or theme she needed a song to go along with it.

"Babygirl." He sighed sitting up. Joe knew she couldn't hear him, he wasn't sure if she noticed him sit up at all.

She was oblivious to him, she could only focus on these piece of writing. She had gotten up in the middle of the night because she couldn't sleep and she didn't want to wake Joe up. Though it was a start when Joe pulled the ear bud out of her ear as he leaned down to kiss her head.

"Babygirl, why aren't you in bed?" He asked, his eyes falling to the paper she was writing on almost feverishly.

"I kept thinking about things, the way they were for me. Living in fear because of a man I didn't know but who apparently knew me too well."

He nodded. "What are you writing about?"

"I'm creating a character based off me, you...retelling the story that is ours, but making it fiction."

"Babygirl..." He tilted her head back up so that he could look at him. "Come to bed, please."

"Joe, I'm not tired."

Growling slightly, Joe knew he scared her because she tensed up. Gently taking her by the arms, Lucy complied as she stood up at his urging. Still looking at him, not with fear but curiosity, Lucy followed him to the bed. As she was kneeling to get onto the bed, she felt his hand connect with her backside, making her yelp slightly. In doing so, she ended up face planting into the covers.

"I like the view, Babygirl." She heard Joe say from behind her. "I'd like to see more of it soon."

"How soon is too soon?" Lucy asked.

"Oh Babygirl, you know the answer to that one."

Lucy learned that Joe liked to be the dominant on when it came to the bedroom. Not that she didn't mind, he liked a little rough stuff from time to time. He liked to spank if he had her in the doggy position. It kind of felt okay but he didn't do it hard enough to make it hurt so that she wasn't enjoying it. And sometimes Lucy liked to be on top riding him. It was all about knowing how far the other was willing to go, but Lucy wasn't sure how far she wanted the sex and love making sessions to go.

But it was late, and they needed to get up in the morning to talk to Ms. Stephanie about letting Lucy off for the next couple of weeks. That just made Lucy think about the upcoming court stuff that was nearing.

"Joe..." Lucy whispered once they were settled next to each other.

"Yeah, Babygirl."

"When everything is over, when I don't have to deal with courts and stuff like that...I want us to go out on a date."

"Where do you want to go?"

"How about what do you want to do? I want to do something that you want to do." She traved his tattoo in the dark. She could feel the different in the lines and the skin. They were unique to her, different than Phil's tattoos.

"I'll have to think about that, Babygirl." He buried his face into the top of her head. "Right now, all I want is to sleep with you in my arms."

Lucy enjoyed that idea a lot.

* * *

Joe usually was the first one up, but with her sleepless night Lucy was up earlier than he was. Joe had woken to the sound of the shower running, which meant he could ease her mind some.

Lucy hadn't heard the door open, nor had she anticipate the curtain moving on it's own. She screamed, slipped slightly only to feel the smooth arms of Joe around her slick body.

"Don't do that! You scared me, Joe." She exclaimed, oblivious to the fact that he was now in the shower with her, naked.

"Well sorry, you're the one that got up before me." He smiles as he presses a kiss to her forehead. "Can I wash you down?"

"I've already washed," she had this confused look on her face before it broke into a smile. "Can I wash you instead? You haven't had a shower this morning."

"Sure, Babygirl." He stepped back slightly so she had enough room to grab the rag and the soap.

She was gentle, savoring how the way the water ran down his skin. She liked Joe's complexion, not too brown but not too white...just sort of perfect, like a light caramel brown. Lucy started at Joe's neck and shoulders, massaging with the rag as she cupped and pulled with her hands on his skin and muscles. They never broke eye contact, but Joe didn't touch her. He knew Lucy had to get used to this sort of thing all over again. After everything that happened back at her brother's place...his mind didn't want to drift there as Lucy started heading lower.

That animal instinct was starting to come back, as it usually did when she was around. He always let some of it go, trying to show her something about him, but he never truly released it on her. He would scare her away. That feeling intensified as she neared his hips, keeping well away from between his legs, Lucy worked down his thighs. One at a time in a slow grueling process.

He whined slightly as she reached behind him, running her soapy hands over his backside. She knew what she was doing, he liked touching her ass so she was going to repay him.

"Oh really?" Joe asks as he pulled Lucy up again.

"You get to touch me there, I thought that you might like the same treatment. Did I do something wrong?"

Instead of answering her, Joe kissed her hungrily so that he could get some excitement out of it. Then he hissed when her hand closed around his cock, stroking it until it was hard and ready for her. But she wasn't going to get away with just touching him.

"Joe..." She moaned as he reached between her legs. "That feels good, Sweetie."

Now he took charge, showing her what he wanted. He pressed her to the wall in that shower, the cool tile connecting with Lucy's back making her shutter at the feeling. He didn't give her time to adjust to the fact that their bodies were pressed so close to each other. In the next intstand he'd buried himself into her that she gasped against their joined mouths.

"Yes, Baby, yes." He coaxed as he started moving in and out of her, hooking one leg around his hip.

"More, Joe, please." She begged, her arms latched around his neck.

Her plead for him to do more snapped that chain holding the animal in him. Painfully digging his fingers into her hip, his pace was frantic, he even bit her neck. And for a moment Lucy was scared, she whimpered as he bit her, but the explosions of pleasure started rippling through her. She let that feeling of pure bliss override her common sense and held onto Joe as she rode out the orgasm, him filling her as he did so. Usually they were more careful with protection, but this was just...primal to say the least.

"I'm sorry." Joe said, pushing her hair back.

"For what?" Lucy asked as she slid down from his body.

"For scaring you. I know I broke that hold on that part of me that likes to take control..." he felt Lucy wrap her arms around his middle, pressing her head into his chest, her small hands flattening against his back. "Lucy..."

She didn't speak up for a moment but when she did, it warmed his heart. "I forgot everything going on. The trial, the fact that my family isn't my family. I liked it, a little bit. I felt good when you made me cum. I liked that my heart is with you, Joe."

"Come on, let's get dried off so we can get to the arena today." He pushed her hair from her face.

Lucy nodded, then reached over and turned off the faucet.

* * *

**Honestly, I'm trying to get back into the groove of this story. I'm still trying to figure out what to do next, to get the story to continue but nothing has come to mind. After changing the plot line in Chapter 38, I have come to another road block. What are your thoughts?**


	40. Chapter 40

A*Teens was playing through her ear buds, The song that was on a that moment was Perfect Match and it just summed up her relationship with Joe Anoa'i. Speaking of Joe, he had gone off to talk to his cousins about their match in the show for later that night, while she waited to speak with Ms. Stephanie, her husband Paul and Mr. McMahon. They had told her to wait for them in one of the designated rooms while they deliberated on what they thought about the case at hand.

To see if they were either going to keep her or let her go.

She appreciated the thought of working with Joe and the guys, on traveling with Nessa and Sophia, but it was all the same. Trouble seemed to loom wherever Lucy went. She had left the hotel that morning with her friends, her boyfriend, and the thought of never seeing them much again loomed in the back of her mind. Lucy didn't want to loose this but then again, life changes, the page turns and life goes on. She wanted to do something about that changing part, but she hadn't decided on what yet.

The door opened and she looked up. Ms. Stephanie stepped in with her husband Paul. No Vince McMahon, that could mean trouble, Lucy thought as she pulled the ear buds from her ears. Switching off her MP3 player she sat up as Ms. Stephanie took the chair next to Lucy's.

"Well, we've come up with an idea for you. Yes you've been going down to the ring with The Shield but we're going to write you off as needing a vacation. The writers in Creative have wanted to put you in as GM for the show and that would include you to have an issue with Maddox again."

"I...I thought you might want to get rid of me after all the trouble I put into the company." Lucy stammered a little at first.

"Please, if anything you opened our eyes to it. The Bellas have been out of line for so long without us knowing about it...I'm surprised no one has come to us about it." Paul said.

"If they were anything like me, they would have felt like they were causing a problem." Lucy explained remembering her own problems from prior months. "Anyway, is it still okay for me to walk down to the ring with Seth and Roman tonight?"

"Yeah, we're still lining up for Money in the Bank, it's a shame you'll be gone for that." Paul said from where he stood next to his wife. "But if you need us for anything, contact us."

"I have your numbers, and I'll call to let you know what's going on with the trial stuff." She paused. "If you want to release a statement about what's going on, you can. I've thought about it and I want to let the fans know about what has happened and what is going to happen. I just don't know how to word it out. I think you have it better than I do."

She was letting them tell her story to the world, a page to be turned and to remember for later. A page in her life.

Another page that needed to be written was about to happen. As Lucy was walking out of the meeting room she literally ran right into her former brother, John Cena. Dan was still considered her brother because he actually treated her like a sister and family. Just thinking about Dan made her quickly think about Cece who was still calling Joe her Uncle Joe, even to her little playmate friends.

But at that moment she had to think about John holding her arm, stopping her from walking away.

"I should have let you been yourself." He said, making Lucy look at him in confusion.

"Why now? Because of the things I yelled at you about, yelled at your parents..." she asks as she pulled her arm from his grasp. "When I say things I mean them John. I've been told for many years that I was a liar for one thing or another that was not true. It felt like the only ones that cared enough for me was Dan and Christi, and the ones you deemed unworthy for me."

"Because I was wrong, Lucy. I was wrong. Damn I've been such a freakin' asshole to you and you didn't deserve it. I wanted to make sure that you were happy, that you...that you had everything you needed. But when you found it with someone I thought was scum, who turned out to not be everything I thought, I began to reconsider things. I don't fully trust him, but he was the only one that brought you back from that breaking point the other day. No pills, no emergency room visit, he brought you back from that oblivion space."

The oblivion space was how Lucy described shutting everyone out, when everything was over stimulating or it felt like they were attacking her.

"I've never seen anyone do that before, Lucy. He's the only one that did." John's voice lowered slightly. "Look I don't expect you to trust me after all this shit okay. But you're still my sister, legally or not. You're my sister, Lucy. I just don't want to loose you. Yes, I didn't want you at first, but after what happened with Randy I chose to look out for you the best I could. I just want to know what's going on, why you were with Stephanie and Trips."

"I have legal stuff going on, coming up next week." She said, looking down. "Some sort of competency hearing for Dane. He's changed his plea agreement to Not Guilty by reason of insanity. I've already talked to Dan and Christi and I'll be staying wtih them."

"You'll be home for a while."

"Home is where the heart is, John. My heart is with Joe. He's my home, where I'm safe in his arms if I ever have nightmares or I'm just being stupid about something."

John didn't say anything. Dan had been the same with Lucy. Even a year after her real family died she'd been having nightmares and Dan seemed to calm her down. Only a few years separated them, that was all. John was easily ten years older than Lucy, and their personalities were what varied in depths and pounds. She was quiet and mindful, sensitive, and he was flamboyant and talkative, and a little high strung.

"You're not stupid, Lucy. You're probably the smartest person in the family right now. Look, I've got to go, but you have my number if you need to talk about anything." Lightly, a feather touch on her arm, John walked off, title over his shoulder.

Joe had seen and heard everything they said, from Lucy to John. Family meant everything to Lucy, his family was no different. It only made his decision more clearly.

"Hey, Babygirl, you ready?" He asked as he approached her, trying to not make it obvious that he had seen and heard what went on between her and Cena.

"To go talk to your cousins, sure." She smiled at her boyfriend, looping her arm with his right. "After the show I think I need to explain stuff to our friends. They only know a little but they don't know about me having to stay here in Massachusetts for the duration of the legal crap."

"Yeah, Nessa is going to be none too thrilled about that." Joe agreed.

* * *

And she was right.

"I can't believe this." Nessa exclaimed as they were waiting for their food at a restaurant they found. "This is so bullshit."

"Nessa, watch your mouth." Lucy hushed at her. "I can't help it if Dane really is psychotic or not. Because of this competency hearing, they bumped up the trial. Jury selection is two weeks away and I won't be there to cheer them on." She motioned to Joe, Jon and Colby. "I won't be able to see Sophia after nearly ten years."

"We can text, I won't be busy like them." Sophia interjected.

The Usos and Trinity, who also joined the group in on dinner per request of Joe, were sitting there at the large table. So it was The Shield, The Usos, and four women, nine people all together enjoying a last meal together. Because of Lucy, Joe noticed, he was bringing Trinity, and his cousins closer together.

"Come on, girl...it won't be that bad. Unless your adopted mom starts something." Trinity said, leaning on the table slightly.

"It's not that...it's seeing that man again. You wouldn't know what it was like for me. I've spent most of this year in fear. If he hadn't been a serial rapist, this would have been an assault, breaking and entering, he would be out by now and loving it. Before all of you came into my life, I lived in fear. And seeing that monster again..." They could hear the desperation in her voice.

"There will be people there to protect you, Lucy." Joe soothed her. She looked at him. "Dan and Christi are backing you up."

"I'm hoping to get the fans involved in it. I agreed to let Ms. Stephanie and Paul release a statement about my departure through I want to keep them in the loop."

"Really, Cuz?" Joshua asked from his place across the table with Trinity and Jonathan.

"Yeah, I figured it would eventually get out and I need all the support I can get, you know." She shrugged. "That way news about this man can get out to the masses. In a way, to make him the monster that he is. It's my own brand of justice."

Jon smiled, his usual Dean Ambrose smile. "Well, well, well, a girl after my own heart. Her own brand of justice. I'm happy for you. And if that prick ever gets out, I'm sure I will love to handle his ass myself."

"Count me in." Joshua said.

Basically everyone in attendance agreed to that sentament.

"Same here." Phil spoke up as he approached the table. "Sorry I'm late, I was talking to someone for you, Toots."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lucy responded as Phil shed his hoodie and plopped down in the last remaining seat.

"Well, you got me thinking, and Joe brought it up as well, when you took us to your parents' graves. I was talking to a friend about it and he told me about a PI he knows. He did some digging around and...I think I found your grandmother."

"Wait, what?" Nessa spoke up while Sophia and Trinity grabbed their boyfriends' arms in shock.

"A few days search, and a few hoops to go through, this PI that I hired, given the information that I had at the time, found a woman back in Ireland. Here's the number you should call." He handed Lucy the number. "She would be your grandmother from you mother's side, maternal grandmother, she has a strange name. Caireen."

"It's uh, a goddess name. A mother goddess. I was talking to Stephen about some of the myths from Ireland earlier. I thought they were cool. He liked to use the image of a Celtic Warrior named Cuchulain, a Celtic hero. He thought I should know some myths about our, his and mine, cultural background."

"Wanna hear about ours?" Jonathan asked, smirking.

"Sure, what?"

Joe looked at Phil and mouthed, 'Thank you' to him, before turning back to Lucy. She was enthralled with a Hawaiian myth about a sea turtle named Kauila.

* * *

**I want to thank everyone for what they have said, and their suggestions. I love your support for My Pretty Beautiful. **


	41. Chapter 41

She didn't like that she had to leave them behind, Lucy was already crying. She had to leave them behind and work towards ending the nightmares on her own. Not that she didn't leave Joe without something to look forward to.

Lucy remembered her last night with Joe. She let her wild side out, a few times. Oh she took him to that edge with gusto. Lucy found herself on her knees a few times, she even rode him with a newly found passion. She felt that passion in her. She made sure that they used protection for sure. In the back of her head it was one time, aside from her first time with Joe, that they had not used protection. She was going to monitor herself, just to be on the safe side.

She wasn't going to worry about that just yet. Lucy had to figure out what she was going to do with this upcoming court hearing. It was in two days, basically a week had passed since she had to go on leave. Already the public was becoming well aware of her plight with this man known as Dane Thomas, and people were really starting to take notice that she wasn't really a Cena, she was adopted by them. Now they understood why she didn't look like any of them.

"Aunt Lucy..." Cece said walking into her open room.

"Yes, Cece." She turned from the window she was staring blindly out of.

"There is a really big man here looking for you. He looks like Uncle Joe, but he's not. He has a girl with him."

She wasn't anticipating any visitors. It's been days since Joe left, and she'd spoken to his mother and father periodically since their first meeting. Dwayne...wait, it had to be Dwayne. Dwayne and Simone...Lucy had gotten up from the bed and hurried downstairs. When she got there, Dan was talking to Dwayne while Simone was quietly waiting for Lucy to show up.

"Ms. Simone!" She didn't mean to yell but she was so glad to see the teenager.

"Lucy!" The girl smiled, running to hug her.

Never in her life had Lucy been more happy to see her. Sure she was perfectly normal, but normalcy was what she wanted at this moment.

"What are you two doing here?" Lucy asked, looking between Simone and Dwayne.

"We came to visit you, see if you wanted to go out and do something before I have to fly back out to LA." Dwayne responded. "Plus Simone kind of wanted to see the sights of Boston."

"I used to live in Boston, at least one area. I can show that area to you." She responded smiling. "Let me get my shoes and wallet."

"Can I go, Daddy?" Cece asked.

"We'll go another day, Ce." Dan smiled at his daughter. "Right now, Aunt Lucy needs her friends."

Simone was the perfect thing to take Lucy's mind off of the court hearing within two days. Lucy had decided to drive into Boston with her favored form of transportation, her Jeep. The Wrangler hadn't been taken out much since Dan and Christi mainly used the small Ford sedan for getting around in. Dan had a day off and he was home watching Cece while Christi was out with friends.

"So, do you miss him?" Simone asked as they found the local mall Lucy used to go to a lot. Mainly because of the petstore and the bookstore that was in there. "Do you miss Joe I mean?"

"Yeah, it's a little weird to be anywhere without him. I'm so used to feeling his left arm draped over me when I wake up, or used to hearing him in the shower the first thing when I do wake up. I miss the others too, like Colby, who seems to love filming Joe and I together."

"Yeah? I wonder why he does that." Dwayne mentioned, glancing at a store front that they passed.

"Because he was sending the footage to Sophia. She enjoyed the footage, but had a hard time realizing that I was her long lost friend of ten years."

"Wow, ten years. She's the deaf chick that Colby was seen signing to, right?"

Talking to these two were interesting. Dwayne was still filming stuff for that television show but he had decided to take time out to come to the court hearing Lucy was going to. At least having him there was a good thing, for her.

"I have to show support for my family. Simone aggreed to watch Cece while Christi and Dan go to the court house with us." Dwayne told her as the three of them were enjoying a lunch. "Family is forever."

"I'm having a hard time with that one." Lucy stared at her food.

"Is John being a jerk to you?" Simone asked.

"No, actually he was the first to come around. I still haven't heard word from his parents. And...I left a message with a woman I think is my grandmother, my biological grandmother." Lucy told them about Joe asking Phil for help on going about finding an family members. "I left a message but I haven't heard word back yet."

"Maybe you should call again." Simone suggested.

"It's her decision, Simone. Maybe the woman is not sure what Lucy is saying is real, you know. All she knows is that she lost a daughter and isn't sure if what Lucy said is true. Dumping this after what, twenty-one years after the incident, it's not really the thing most people want to hear about."

This was why Lucy liked Dwayne, he looked out for her like Joe did, like her friends, her brother Dan.

"I uh...John and I are working on trying to connect again. He approached me on Raw before I left, telling me I was right and he was wrong. I just haven't heard anything from his parents yet." Lucy said, staring at her food again.

"I swore to you, if he ever made trouble with you and Joe again, he was going to get it. When I found out what he and Orton did..."

"Orton's getting a divorce. Because of Brie, not because of me. So as far as anyone else is concerned he's on the market." Lucy added. "That's one of the things that John told me, that Randy was getting a divorce."

Simone touched her slightly. "Hey, after we're done eating, let's go shopping. I saw this top in a window that you would look great in." Count on the teen to change the subject from something depressing to something more enjoyable.

"Thank you, Simone. I would appreciate that." Lucy smiled at her.

And she did. The rest of the outing was without any more discussions of wrestling, family or John Cena. Though the few fans that recognized Lucy and Dwayne were asking these questions. It was sort of strange to have a group of girls ask Lucy if the man that was going to trial was the Boston East Side Rapist, the name Dane had acquired when the entire thing was going on.

"I fought back, that's how I stopped him." She answered honestly.

She fought back and Lucy was fighting back now. People were more aware that she was the one that had stopped him, the East Side Rapist. There was pride in these people telling her thanks for what she'd done. No one had ever said that. The trial and stuff like that was farely quiet. No one knew that the woman involved was John Cena's adopted sister.

After Lucy dropped Dwayne and Simone off at their hotel in Boston, she drove back to her brother's place. When she got back Christi was back, and she had an envelope, a legal one from the State of Massachusetts.

"Hey, Luce, I think your legal documentation has come through."

She opened the large manilla envelope. Sure enough it was a document with duplicates of all the papers she needed.

It was official...

She was Lucina Edith Ferguson again.

* * *

Joe looked at his phone, sweat dripping off his nose as he was taking a break from the workout he was doing with Jon and Colby. He'd been trying to get Lucy off his mind, worrying about her constantly. And here she was, calling him.

"It's Lucy. I'm going to take this." He said, seeing Jon's questioning look.

"Sure man, go ahead. I'm going to see if I can beat Colby's ass at a run."

Outside the gym, Joe leaned against the wall as he spoke to his girlfriend. "Hey, Babygirl. I thought you usually call later than this. What's up?"

"I had a nice day out with Dwayne and Ms. Simone." She replied as she was sitting at the kitchen island looking at the papers. "I still haven't gotten a call back from Ms. Caireen though, but Dwayne and Ms. Simone are sticking around until after the competency hearing, to support me."

"That's good."

"I also got my paperwork in on changing my name. I was approved. I'm back to being Lucy Ferguson again."

He smiled. "What does John think?" Joe knew that Lucy and John were trying to recover their lost relationship, it was a slow go on Lucy's part but at least she had someone besides Dan and Christi now in that family.

"He helped me get the stuff together. He even admitted that his family probably isn't the family I should have been placed with. I was forced to be their daughter, in a way I agree with that. I had no choice in the matter. He didn't when he said he didn't want a sister. He's also glad that I found a Ferguson family member."

"But you don't know how she would react, huh?"

"I don't know about anything. I don't even know if she was thrilled with the idea of her daughter coming to America with a husband, starting a family a world away from hers...I don't know the family history."

"Babygirl, you need to relax. Worrying about this stuff isn't good. Right now, you need to focus on your case with Dane. And you said that Dwayne and Simone are going to be there for you. I can only imagine what the rest of my family are thinking at this moment."

She laughed. "I've been called a dozen times by your parents wondering if I was okay. Ms. Dani has called as well. It's been decided that Ms. Simone doesn't come to the hearing with Dwayne, she'll be back at Dan's place watching Cece. Speaking of which..."

"Hi, Uncle Joe. I miss you!" The five year old yelled into the phone.

"Hi, Small Fry." He replied, hearing her laughing before she scampered off in the distance. "She's a happy one."

"You know it, Joe. She misses you. We're taking swimming classes on Saturdays together, and I'm actually doing it. I'm swimming. I'm making a goal to swim with turtles out in the ocean when I get back to Florida." He could hear the happiness in her voice, even if it wasn't him doing it. It was great to hear her so happy again.

"I can't wait to see you do that, too. I'm glad you're succeeding, Lucy. I just wish I could be there to see you accomplish it."

"Thank you, Joe. I like hearing you say things like that." There was a pause on her line, he heard that she was talking to Christi about dinner. "I have to go, Joe. I miss you, love you and tell Nessa to stop fretting with Ferret Face. She and Sophia are griping to me now and it's a man's face they're talking about."

"Love you, too, Lucy. I'll be sure to send the message."

"When I get around to it, we should Skype. It's not like we'll be near each other, I just miss seeing your face."

"Love to do that with you, Babygirl. Bye, I'll call you back soon enough."

"Kay, bye."

His heart sagged at the thought of her hanging up. But...at least it wasn't all in vain. She was changing, she was maturing, she was living on her own without him. Joe knew she needed this, his support was limited because of work but he planned to be there for her any way that he could.

* * *

**Another one down. What did you think about this update?**


	42. Chapter 42

**A Note: I have a limited amount of knowledge with the judicial system. I tried to make this as real as possible. Thank you.**

* * *

He managed to do it, he found some time off and two days later Joe found himself back in West Newbury, Massachusetts. The morning of the competency hearing Joe arrived at Dan's house, meeting up with Dwayne and Lucy as his cab dropped him off.

"Hey, I thought you weren't going to be able to get here." Dwayne said after hugging his cousin.

"Well, I managed to squeeze in some time. I think Stephanie knew I wanted to be here for Lucy for court dates but I can't stay more than a two days." Joe explained as Simone went up to the door and rang the doorbell.

Christi smiled at Joe as she let the group of them in. "She's getting ready. Put your stuff up in her room."

Lucy was staring at herself in the mirror in the bathroom, lightly applying lip gloss. Her heart was pounding, and the tears were slowly falling down her face. She was going to have to see that man without Joe. She knew that she had to do this on her own. She knew she had Dwayne there, but she didn't know the surprise that waited for her. But then there was that other thing that was bothering her, the throwing up thing. She wasn't sure if it was the nerves about the trial or if she was...

As she was going back to her bedroom, Lucy stopped as she found someone standing in her room, getting dressed. It took only a second for her to realize it was him, his hair was up in a ponytail and he was putting on a nice shirt with some slacks. How long was she in the bathroom for?

"Oh my God, Joe!" She yelled, lauching herself at him.

He laughed as he let her tackle him onto the bed. She smothered him with kisses, he didn't mind that she did this because she was back in his arms again.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were going to be busy." She sat up on his lap so that he could sit up.

"I got two days off, I only just got in like an hour ago. I didn't want to tell you because I wasn't sure if I was going to make it in time for the hearing. I wanted to be here and Stephanie let me come by. I leave tomorrow night so that I can get to the house show on Friday."

She had him until Thursday. Lucy hadn't seen Joe for a week, but she still managed to either talk to or Skype with him in that time. This was the best thing she could have asked for. And to Joe this was perfect, she even tasted like raspberries. It must have been her lip gloss, he thought as he licked her lips.

"Oh." She sighed and got off of him.

"I'll be able to go to your court dates, though. Just tell me when they are and I'll be there." He pushed her hair from her face. "Tell Stephanie and she'll give me the time off."

"Okay, I will." She nods and him and leans in for another kiss. Lucy smoothed out his shirt before she finished buttoning for it. "There, much better now."

The hearing was for at two, Dan and Christi were coming with Dwayne, Joe and Lucy. Simone had agreed to watch Cece for them, while a neighbor girl, a seventeen year old that is usually Cece's babysitter, watched them. The adults left in two car loads, Dwayne with Dan and Christi while Joe and Lucy took the Wrangler. And when they got to the courthouse in Boston, the news media was thriving by now. She was amazed at the news coverage of this, when there hadn't really been any before.

"Lucy, Lucy, do you have a comment? How do you feel about Dane Thomas' insanity plea?"

"I know he's not insane." She said as Shawn Maxwell, her lawyer met up with her, Dan, Christi and Dwayne in front of the courthouse. "He planned this. He wants to see me, he wants to see me alone. I'm not alone, I'm with my family, my loved ones. I plan to see justice exacted out on him. Excuse us, we have to get inside." She looked at Joe before turning with the group into the courthouse.

Lucy had used her persona on television to deal with the media outside, something that she had come to rely on when dealing with people outside of her circle, especially with the media. If she could act like this then they wouldn't see her as how she truly was. She did this a lot growing up, maybe that's why she had a unique gift with acting in the WWE.

Seeing Dane for the first time in half a year was hard. She had to be tough, she had to be strong. With Joe on one side and Dwayne on the other with Dan and Christi next to him on the same bench, they all watched Dane get brought in. The look Dane had when he saw Lucy there with Joe and Dwayne, it soured. Instead of seeing her there with her family, with the exception to Dan and Christi he didn't like it. And Joe finally saw the monster that gave his girlfriend nightmares on a regular basis.

Dane was in his forties, with height and weight advantage to any woman. His hair was thinning on top, and greying slightly. His cold blue eyes locked onto Joe as the Samoan leaned in to whisper something to Lucy. It was when their heads touched in an intimate moment, his eyes burned with anger. That was supposed to be him, he was the one that was supposed to hold her like that. Their hands were supposed to be together. He didn't perfect his talent just to have some young stud take his place.

As the hearing wore on, Lucy eased up. Joe held her hand the entire way while Shawn pleaded her case.

"Ms. Lucina Ferguson..." Shawn started to say.

"Wait, her name is Lucina Cena." Dane spoke up, looking confused. His court appointed lawyer tried to silence him. "No, she is a Cena. She is my coworker's daughter..."

"Silence...you're out of order, Mr. Thomas." The judge said, smacking the gavel down.

"No!" Dane all but yelled standing up and turning to look at Lucy. "What did you do? You're supposed to be a Cena. I'm supposed to be apart of that family. Your father gave me permission to have you!"

Lucy sat in silence, eyes wide in shock. She moved closer to Joe, pressing her face into his shoulder. His hand came up to shield her face from the man that was being pulled from the courtroom by the baliffs. The judge ordered for a recess while this matter got straightened out, Shawn had come back towards Lucy leaning over the barrier talking mostly to Joe and Dwayne trying to tell them that this was not expected.

He may actually get his insanity plea after all.

* * *

Lucy was not expecting to see John there at all. When Dwayne and Joe, along with Dan and Christi, stood out on those same steps, John nodded at them. He'd been late for the hearing but he was there now.

"Well, how did it go?" He asked.

"Not great, he flipped out in court." Dan said. "Where's Mom and Dad?"

"They're not here. I tried to get the to come but...they just wouldn't." John said, looking apologetically at Lucy, but he frowned. "Luce, are you okay?"

"I'm not feeling well." She said, leaning on Joe more now.

Joe and John shared a look. It wouldn't have been the first time since Lucy has been gone that they discussed Joe's and Lucy's relationship. Instantly Joe's mind flashed to the shower incident, the only other time besides Lucy's first, that they didn't use protection. Trying not to start something in front of others, both men decided through this silent exchange of non spoken workds to keep it for later.

"The Judge is calling everyone back in." Shawn said approaching. "Hey John, I think there is an extra seat for you in there if you want to join." He looked at Lucy and she just nodded at it.

She was pale, Joe noticed she had been pale earlier. Could it have been the stress of the hearing and the legal crap taking a toll on her? He wasn't sure but he would keep a close eye on her. But that lingering thought in the back of his mind loomed, he could be a father.

Once everyone got back into the courtroom they stood and waited for the judge to return. This wasn't the real trial, this was to see if Dane Thomas was fit to stand trial. But from the outburst he had in court, he might get off with an insanity charge. Dane had calmed down somewhat, enough to stand but a baliff stood in his way so that he wouldn't turn around to look at Lucy. Joe was holding Lucy's hand firmly, and he looked over as she shifted. He'd seen her hand come up and grasp onto John's even if she was leaning on him slightly. John stood taller, straighter...prouder. Lucy trusted him enough to touch him, a sign she was slowly forgiving him.

The judge returned after going over the tests and the documentation.

"I have deemed that Dane Thomas is competent enough to stand trial. But I warn you, he just made the margin for that as well as the fact that he can still take a plea deal at this time and a trial wouldn't be necessary." The judge looked at the lawyers in turn.

"We still have the original plea agreement on the table for Mr. Thomas..." Shawn said. "It's still there."

"And we've aggreed to take it."

"And then there will be a sentencing hearing in one month time. Court adjourned." The gavel came down, making Lucy jump slightly.

No trial, no worry. She didn't have to sit through that again, until sentencing. A month, she had to wait a month. All of this went through her head, it swam which made her...feel ill. They got outside the court room and suddenly she was running for the nearest rest rooms, holding her mouth. Christi took off after her.

"Do you think it could just be the nerves?" Joe asked hopefully. It's not that he was afraid of her being pregnant, he wasn't sure how it would effect her mentally.

"I've seen her have panic attacks like this before." Dan said. "She would get so nervous that she would get sick."

"Yeah, I remember some of those." John nods.

After a few minutes Christi and Lucy return, where they decide to head on home. John decides to get everyone an update but chose not to go back to Dan's place. He thought it was a bit intrusive as it was. He knew the others would want to make sure she was okay.

"Dane Thomas took a plea deal." John told the audience that was gathered outside of courthouse. "Lucy Ferguson, who was formally Lucy Cena, my adopted sister, would like everyone to know she's grateful for your support at this time. In a month sentencing for Dane Thomas will occur and then Lucy and her family will rest in peace."

Peace, that's what she needed. But what she got instead was Christi handing Lucy a stick the moment she was in her room. Joe told her she needed to get some rest, and he was downstairs talking to Dwayne and Dan.

"A pregnancy test?" Lucy looked at the box.

She had remembered why Christi held that family gathering, to announce that she was pregnant. But Dan's parents had to be the sticks in the mud to tear into Lucy for everything she wasn't supposed to be doing.

"Just to be sure, Hun. You've been acting weird and I just want to make sure that you're...okay."

From downstairs, the babysitter had left and Simone was playing with Cece in the den while Joe, Dwayne, Dan and John shared some beers as a way to celebrate the win Lucy just had. But the silence in the house broke.

Joe heard Lucy screaming from upstairs.

* * *

**Woo, I think I'm getting in the home stretch with this story. Thank you for all your support and suggestions on this one. I'm trying to work on the next few installments so bear with me. **


	43. Chapter 43

Dwayne remembered when his former wife Dani told him that she was pregnant with Simone. It was a day he would never forget. He had come back from a trip away with the then WWF, she was sitting on their bed staring off into space. They'd been together for about four years and living life with it's ups and downs.

"Babe, what's wrong?" He asked, setting his bags down and coming to kneel in front of her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm...I'm pregnant, Dwayne." She said, her brown eyes tearing up again.

It was when he knew he was going to be a father. Sure they talked about having children, but they worried that with him being a professional wrestler was going to be too much for them. He'd known what it was like growing up in the famous Anoa'i family, his own father was a wrestler.

And now as he watched his cousin Joe try to comfort Lucy Ferguson, a thought occured to him. The family was going to get even bigger. Glancing down at his daughter, Dwayne saw the smile plastered there. She was happy, happy to hear that Lucy was pregnant. Go figure, Simone considered the auburn haired woman a sister more than a cousin.

"Everyone out." Christi ordered to the men, teenager and her daughter. "Come on, let's leave them alone. This is their business for now. Leave them alone." She actually shoved her much larger husband. "You too, Doofus Dan."

She was scared, scared to death at this moment. Would he want her now? Would he want the baby? She had thought about it, she had thought deeply about it for a while now. Was she even ready to raise a living being? Lucy didn't know, she just...went back to that place in her head where she was safe. And it killed Joe to know she was slipping. Every time something massive was thrown at her, she reversed a little.

As Joe sat with her on the bed he remembered the dinner with everyone, all their friends and his family, his cousins. The birth of Kauila, the sea turtle myth that The Usos had told her, came into his head at that moment. And he started reciting it, while rocking Lucy back and forth. Reciting that Kauila's birth was a happy one, for a turtle, and as a turtle with the power to turn into a child, she would watch over the children of Punalu'u a black sand beach on Hawaii's Big Island. He told her about how the Honu now will actually swim close to children off that beach, watching them.

"What's a Honu?" He heard Lucy ask, her cheak pressed into Joe's chest.

"Honu is the green sea turtle, Babygirl."

"Babygirl," she murmured. "Your Babygirl is going to have a baby."

He nodded, running his fingers through her hair. "And you think I'll just leave, don't you? You think this would scare me off."

"It would others."

"I think we both know neither of us are like others." He tilted her head up so that he was looking at her. "And I'm not going anywhere, Lucy." Joe moved his hand so that it was resting on her stomach. "We made this together, my pretty beautiful is carrying my child. You have no idea how happy I am right now."

He wanted her, he wanted the baby. But...memories of when she was younger flashed through her mind. Even the recent conversations with her former adopted mother made a brief appearance as Lucy sat on Joe's lap, him protecting her.

"It's the girl's fault." She said, moving from him slightly so that she could lay down on the bed.

"What?"

"Just something that happened previously, something I didn't understand. My brother Matt, him and his high school sweetheart got pregnant during their senior year." She watched as Joe came to lay down with her, him on his side so that he was looking at her. His large hand splayed out across her stomach, rubbing it slightly. "Carol said that it was the girl's fault that it happened. It's always the girl's fault if they get pregnant."

Joe was shocked. "Do you think it's your fault that you're pregant?"

She shrugged. "Maybe. But I'm scared. That we won't last long being a couple. As devout Catholics, Matt and his girlfriend refused abortion and they kept the baby, but all of the stress as being teenagers and having a family broke them up. Carol kept insisting it was the girl's fault."

"No offense, Babygirl, but I swear to you, your adopted parents were a little messed up."

"Yeah, they were weren't they?" She looked at him. "I want to make sure that I'm actually pregnant. I'm going to go make an appointment for tomorrow, I want you to be there with me though."

"Of course, Babygirl." He nuzzled her head, making sure to kiss away her tears.

Downstairs, John sighed. "It's kind of off around here isn't it?" He asked leaning on the island in the kitchen. "Not that Lucy's pregnant but..."

"It's all so soon?" Dwayne asked, before taking a drink of his beer. "Let me tell you something, John. What Lucy and Joe have is real. He doesn't make her do anything that she doesn't want to do, he supports her. When he brought her to see the family, my God you should have seen it."

"Seen what?"

"Instead of the man trying to woo the woman, the woman wooed the man. She sang a song to him, in front of everyone and I know her issues with people. Her only focus was on Joe, making him her intent. But he didn't need to be wooed, she was already doing that a month into her job with the WWE. He didn't make a move because of your threat."

Dan looked between John and Dwayne. "I don't think Mom needs to know about this. I don't think they have a right to know what's going on with Luce. Are you mad she decided to change her name?"

"No, it shouldn't have been changed in the first place. I think it was wrong for Mom and Dad to have adopted her when it was obvious for the get go that Lucy was different than a normal little girl. I think that was why I didn't want her, but my teenage brain took the message differently. I knew it was wrong that she be adopted but I didn't know she had other issues to deal with at the time. It wasn't her fault, nothing has ever been her fault. Makes me wonder what I was missing out being that brother she didn't want."

"At least you're the one that's trying. The rest of them don't want to." Christi said as she walked into the room. "Simone is keeping Cece preoccupied. And if Joe or Lucy come down, don't..." Her eyes settled on John.

"I'm not, Christi." The older Cena cut her off. "I'm not going to say anything more than I'm proud of her. She's going to be a good mom. I've seen the way Joe's with Cece. She loves him." John smiled at the thought. "I think it would be wise that Lucy go down to Florida, not to get her away from you and Dan, but so that she's closer to more people that can help her."

"I like that idea." Christi said. "I wonder what they're doing about this?"

"I don't see her giving the baby up for adoption. She'll probably think about her own adoption." Dwayne told them. "She wouldn't put a baby through that hell, I know I wouldn't want to do it."

They knew she wouldn't.

* * *

John left the next day. He wasn't going to tell anyone until it was medically confirmed that Lucy was pregnant. Joe had one more day with Lucy and the day before he was scheduled to leave, he and Lucy went to the doctor's office to see if she was pregnant.

"If you are pregnant, Lucy, I want it to be a girl. There are too many guys in the family." Simone said as she and Dwayne came by to wish them luck before they had to leave themselves. "I mean look at Uncle Solofa's family."

"Hey, females out number Joe in his." Lucy smiled as she watched Joe and Dwayne out on the front lawn. "Watch your Dad for me, will you? He's family to me now. I know he'll worry about me and Joe."

"Don't worry, I will. Watch out for Joe, okay? He's my family."

"Will do. Wanna hug?" Lucy opened her arms. She actually did, she was willing to touch Simone.

"Do I?" Simone smirked, stepping into her embrace. "I want to be the Maid of Honor at your wedding."

"I don't know, Ms. Simone. I'm not a marriage kind of person. But if it comes to that for us...I'll think about it. Okay?"

"Sure, that's fine. At least think about it."

After Dwayne and Simone had left, Joe and Lucy left for the doctor's office.

Preliminary tests revealed what Lucy already had come to accept, she was pregnant. But to be sure, they wanted to do a sonogram just to be sure. While they wait, Joe held Lucy's hand as she lay on the table.

"I'm scared."

"So am I, Babygirl." He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb.

Dr. Peterson came in soon after that, ready to start. She was a nice looking woman, in her forties and had seen the birth of Cece, so this was a family event for her. They were ready to see if it was true, to see if Lucy was really pregnant.

But a world way, over in Athy, County Kildare, Ireland, a woman was playing the message all over again. She had listened to the message on her phone for nearly a week now. It was a woman who claimed that she was looking for her grandmother, Caireen, her name. With her parents dead she wanted to see if she could find any relatives.

Caireen and Eileen had a falling out. Eileen fell for that Ferguson lad back in college. They got married young, and got pregnant young. The woman had said some pretty bad things to her daughter, especially when she learned that she was going to America to pursue a teaching career. Caireen didn't want that, she didn't want Eileen to go off to some country, leaving her with an ill husband. But now that she was alone...she was sick herself...

Caireen O'Caire, picked up the phone and began dialing.

* * *

**Yeah, I tried a new approach to this chapter. How did you like it?**


	44. Chapter 44

Pregnant, the word was plastered on the inside of her head as Lucy and Joe made their way back to Dan's place. There was a being growing in her stomach.

"Joe," Lucy's voice was a little shaky. "Would you be mad at me if I said I didn't want to go back to the WWE?"

"No. I know it's not something you wanted in the first place. You need to do what you want to do, Lucy." His hand held hers as it did the entire time back at the doctors. "I love you, Babygirl."

She nodded slightly at first. "I love you, too, Joe."

"Dan and Christi thinks it's better if you move to Florida with me, that way you're closer to family down there. You can rely on my parents, my sisters...Dani and Simone. You have family down there that will care for you. I don't want to take you away from Dan and Christi, or even Cece..."

"Joe, home is where the heart is. My heart is with you. So if you want me to move in with you, then I think that's a good thing to do right now." She said before reaching for the volume nob on the radio. "When fall like a statue, I'm going to catch you..." Lucy sang along with Phillip Phillip's Gone, Gone, Gone song.

Those lyrics basically summed up everything Lucy and Joe were to each other. Joe found that lately Lucy would find music that correspond to either what she was thinking, feeling, or about a situation. She did that a lot when she was writing. It was amusing, considering that sometimes it was pop music, or country...sometimes he found rap coming from her headphones. She liked to drown the world out if she was thinking or writing. She didn't like being interrupted when writing, or she'll get a bit snippy.

Suddenly, Lucy's phone started going off, so off went the music so she could answer it. Joe glanced at his girlfriend as she answered on the third ring.

"Hello?" Then her face changed. "This is Lucy. Who's this?"

Lucy wasn't expecting the person on the other end to say, "This is Caireen O'Caire. I think I am your grandmother."

She stared wide eyed at nothing in particular. It was the shock of hearing the Irish accented woman who she thought didn't want anything to do with her that scared her.

"I...I...um, hi, Ms. Caireen." She glanced at Joe as his head snapped to look at her before going back to the road. "Um, what can I do for you?"

"I was hoping to talk to you actually, lass. You see...your mother and I had a falling out when she married that strange lad, and...I didn't think..." she was choking up on that end. "It's hard to discuss over the phone. I was hoping, maybe..."

"Do you want me to go to Ireland, or would you rather come here?"

"I'm too sick to travel."

"Funny, I just found out that I was pregnant." Lucy said making the other woman strangle a cry. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

"No, no, Child. You...your mother was pregnant when she moved to America. And...I...what happened. I thought...maybe..."

"It's sort of a long story for me. When I was five, Mom, Dad and I were in a car crash. They died."

"Oh Good Father..." she choked out, holding the phone. "My...my daughter...she's gone?"

"Unfortunately, Ms. Caireen...yes. I was adopted by a family named Cena. Um...yeah...it's hard to talk about over the phone. How about I ask my job for time off and I settle some business with my family to...come see you? Where do you live?"

"I'm end stage cancer, Child. I live at a hospital in Dublin. I...didn't want to die alone."

Now it was hard for Lucy to keep from crying. "Can you tell me about my father's family?"

"Good people, they still live in Athy. I think I still have their number if you wish to talk to them."

"I want to worry about you right now, Ms. Caireen. I'll call you back for information on what's going to happen. I have to tell my friends and family that I'm pregnant first."

"All right, I can do that. I'll wait for your call."

"I'll talk to you soon, um...Ms. Caireen."

"That would be lovely." The ailing woman smiled as she hung up the phone. "My grandchild is having a child of her own. Bless her soul, bless her soul..." She reached up and wiped a tear from her face. "I pushed Eileen away. But this girl, she wants...she wants to connect with me."

There was no one there for her. Caireen knew, years ago, she would die alone in a hospital. But finding out that she was possibly going to see her grandchild, one that was carrying a child of her own...she felt a relief. Maybe she could die with happiness and not the bitter old hag Eileen called her before leaving with that Patrick man.

She wasn't going to be alone, that's all Caireen knew before she slipped into a painful sleep.

* * *

It was making time to tell everyone that was difficult. John promised that he wouldn't mention the pregnancy to anyone in their group of friends. Lucy had left with Joe, preparing to tell her friends about the pregnancy and telling them that she got in contact with her maternal grandmother. She was confused beyond belief. It was like everything was happening at once and it was confusing just to wrap her head around it all.

They had asked to meet up with the rest of The Shield, Trinity and The Usos, Phil and Stephen, Stu and Drew just sort of followed Phil and Stephen to the restaurant.

"I am going to take a month off, I'll be back until after the sentencing hearing for Dane. I've got family stuff to tend to." Lucy told her friends. "There's also one more thing I need to tell all of you."

Joe reached out and grabbed Lucy's hand as Lucy handed Sophia a small picture.

"What is this?" Nessa asked, looking at the picture over Sophia's arm.

"You're pregnant?" Sophia asked, her voice strangled from shock and her deafness. "Are you pregnant, Lucy?"

A simple nod was all it took to send three women into screeching screams of joy. The men were hooting and hollering making the rest of the restaurant look at them. Lucy looked at Joe, who was smiling. It made Joe and Lucy smile knowing that their friends were happy for them. Neither had expected them to be angry with them so it was good to see everyone in a good mood after the news.

"Wait, wait..." Phil spoke up quieting everyone down. "What about this family stuff you said earlier? What family stuff? You're a Ferguson now, you have no contact with the former adopted ones, so...did you get a hold of Caireen?"

She nodded. "I was coming back from the doctor's yesterday when she called. She...she's sick and she wants to meet me. I already asked some time off, I know that I couldn't ask for Joe to come with me, I know his job...so in a few days I'm going to Ireland to see my grandmother."

"Athy?" Stephen asked.

"No, she's in a hospital in Dublin, she's got cancer. She's going to die and she decided to not die alone." Lucy fiddled with the napkin. "The doctor I spoke to said that she didn't have long and...I just don't want to abandon her for something that was between her and my mother."

"Go." Nessa said, reaching across the table and taking Lucy's hand in hers. "Go there, find your family. Family means everything to you, Lucy. Let them know everything, tell them everything. If they don't want anything to do with you...then it's their fault not yours."

"I agree." Jon said.

"Same here." Sophia said, signing. "We agree." She motioned between Colby and her.

"How long are you in the pregnancy?" Stu asked, changing the subject slightly.

"About a month. Um...it's from my first time with him." She didn't want to speak about her sex life, not with a bunch of men around her. "And...um..."

"He's got good swimmers doesn't he?" Colby asked, only to get nailed by nearly the entire group of friends, all taking pot shots with napkins or a few hands upside his head. "Ow, ow, ow, Babe, let go of the hair!" Seth yelped as the black haired woman tugged roughly at his hair. "Damn, I mean it as a good thing."

Lucy looked at Joe, he was leaning back in his chair...smiling at everyone around the table. This felt good, to have the father of her child sitting next to her, him holding her hand. She looked at Sophia, who was signing to Colby about what the baby would look like. Trinity and Jonathan, who were in an animated conversation with Joshua about something. Jon and Nessa, now Phil, Stu and Stephen. She had no one at first and then she gained these people. People she could count on. These people are her world.

And it was going to get bigger.

* * *

**Wow, um...not sure if this was the perfect chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.**


	45. Chapter 45

She was going home to a place she's never been to. That's what it felt like.

Dublin, Ireland in the summer was like spring time in Oregon, Lucy noticed. No wonder why they had a lot of Irish in that city, it was like they never left home. Drew was right, Ireland was green. The Emerald Isle. And flying there alone was tough. But it was like a stranger in a strange land going home again. Returning home...yeah that was more like it.

Getting off the plane was strange. Lucy didn't have the support of her friends or her lover there for her. This was her first time out of the States and a sixteen hour flight from New York to Dublin, Ireland and she was really fidgeting. Lucy stopped fidgeting by plugging into her iPhone and MP3 player to listen to music while she hand wrote. She engrossed herself with the story that was coming a long way since she started dating Joe.

But once she got off the plane she was lost. Hearing Irish accents again was bringing back her mother's voice again. She twirled that her ring on her finger as Lucy waited for her luggage to come in. Her heart was pounding, her palms sweating while her mind shifted to the people. Taking a few deep breaths, Lucy grabbed her luggage and went out to see if she could catch a cab.

First she checked into a hostel near the hospital, which was in a part of Dublin that looked to be old style, not ancient but old world style. A lot of cobble stone buildings, big and forboding in her opinion. But still, Lucy had to remind herself why she was there, that she was doing this not just for her, this woman that was her grandmother, but for her child. Lucy wanted to let her know about her family, but she had to see them first, she had to know who they all were and are.

After being in Dublin for an hour, which was at around ten in the morning there, Lucy arrived at the hospital where Caireen was staying. Fifth floor, the cancer ward.

"You're the first visitor Ms. O'Caire has had since she was admitted here." The friend nurse named Ann, said as she was walking Lucy to the room. "She's a bit bitter, mind you. Sharp tongue, will snap at you if you step out of line. Says her Hail Marys the same times every day."

"Is that time now?"

"Take a look."

Lucy had never been very religious, she went through the motions of it but never had a spiritual connection, maybe to the angels but never to God. When she was young she would talk to the angel Michael, and St. Bridget, because she remembered her mother, her birth mother doing it. As a matter of fact Lucy did a lot of things she held on as memories from when her birth parents were alive.

"I'll leave you, push the call button if you need anything." Ann said before walking off.

Ingrained in her head was don't interrupt people as they were praying. so Lucy stayed as quiet as she could while walking into the room.

"And which one are you?" The woman with the headwrap asked, voice frail and stern at the same time. "What do you want? Draw blood, prick me with needles? Can't I die in peace?"

"I think dying alone would be worse." Lucy found herself saying.

The woman looked up from her rosary, her thumb pressed over a blue bead. Her eyes were vibrant green, just like Lucy's, maybe a little faded from age and sickness, but she had the same eyes as Lucy.

"Child, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything, I thought you were one of them blasted nurses."

"I understand what it feels like to be alone. At least I had my brother Dan who looked out for me. May I sit?" She asked motioning to the chair to the right of the bed, so that she was facing the window. The window looked out over a park. "Thank you for letting me come see you, Ms. Caireen."

"I'm surprised you would want to see me."

"Why?"

"I wasn't good to your mother. I was a bad mother in so many little terms. My own son doesn't want to see me."

"I have an uncle?"

"Of course, I always wanted a son and a daughter, the Good Lord granted me that. But your mother, she was a difficult one. I took her to doctors, trying to understnad why she was different from other lasses around Athy. She would do strange things. She didn't take well to people, hated school but was a fantastic learner. Read the Bible front to back, back to front, could quote the scriptures, but she liked taking my statues and reenact the scriptures."

"I did something like that with dinosaurs growing up." Lucy said.

"Yes, well, when Eileen was an adult a new thing came out, autism and a spectrum."

"I have symptoms of autism, something called Asperger's Syndrome. I...I'm not real social and I like to act, pretend to be something outside of what I usually am. I retreat to my own little world, by writing a lot when I'm stressed or bored. Mom...I was five when she and Dad died. There were some things I remember. Mom told me stories, a lot about Ireland. Dad taught me to play football, which gravitated with me through most of my growing years."

"Oh Patrick, I called him a loon for telling my daughter she could do whatever she wanted to do. She chose to go to University to be a teacher, to teach English to children. Then she got a job offer in America and they went. I told Eileen, my daughter, that she would never be welcomed back to the family, for leaving me with an ill husband. I...I didn't know she died until you called. I didn't know any of this."

"It might have something to do with them not putting emergency contacts down. I don't know what happened with my father's family but I was placed in foster care, the first and only family adopted me about a year after Mom and Dad died. And there were some good times and some bad."

"Tell them to me. I want to know."

Lucy told the woman everything, about how she was expected to be a normal girl, but she wasn't. How she was forgotten about, Dan who she only trusted. About how her adopted parents were not in her life after all the things that had happened. She was the liar in their eyes. She told Caireen about what Randy had done to her, how she was almost raped not too long ago. Everything. She laid everything out for this woman to know.

"Your boyfriend, is he the father of your baby?"

"Yes. And I've already been accepted into his family. I'm called Sister, cousin, aunt and daughter by his really large family. His name is Leati Joseph Anoa'i. He's Samoan, with grey eyes. He's a professional wrestler, like my adopted brother John Cena."

"You've come so far, in life and to here. The least I can do is give you something in return. That St. Bridget statue, your mother gave her to me for my birthday before I banished her from the family. And this...rosary was hers when she was a wee one." Caireen looked at the baby blue beaded rosary draped in her hands. "I want you to have them."

"Thank you, that means a lot. Um...here. I brought a copy. I still have some old photos of Mom and me together, I wasn't sure how you thought about my Dad so this is the only one of her and I together. I think I was three years old at the time." Lucy said, pulling a picture out of her satchel.

Tears welled up in her eyes seeing her daughter with her granddaughter in the picture together.

"Bless you child. When I go to the grave, I want this with me." She said, resting back into the pillows.

"Grandma..." Lucy said, making the old woman look at her. "I think you can't take a picture to Heaven with you. But you can take my love with you all the way." Lucy said, smiling slightly, reaching out to hold her hand. "I'm going to be here for a month while I go looking for the rest of my family. You said I have an Uncle?"

* * *

The house was big...and it was in Athy. Athy was a fishing village in County Kildare. There were sheep farms and a lot of fishing boats when she arrived by bus two days later. Granny, as Caireen insisted on Lucy calling her, called her son and told him that she was on her way. Uncle Brian, a scary thought for her. But she went regardless of how she felt. And Lucy found herself at this one place where the remaining living relative of her granny was living.

Apprehensively, Lucy raised her hand to knock, but stopped when someone walked around the side of the house.

"Who're ya?" The man with orange-red hair asked, freckles littering around his nose and cheeks. He was about five-ten, but big in muscle. "What ya want?" An he had a pitchfork. Not something a pregnant woman wanted to encounter while on a trip to a land she was coming back to.

"i'm Lucy Ferguson, I'm your niece." She said, even though she used the voice she would for the shows, in reality she was shaking in her sneakers, while gripping the strap to her satchel bag tightly. "Um, Granny Caireen told me where to find you."

"Or for goodness sake, Brian, let the lass inside." A woman said walking around the side of the house. "Don't mind your uncle, he's not used to strangers."

"Funny, neither am I. Um...what's your name, ma'am?"

"Oh how daft of me. I'm Brianna, Brian's wife. You must be Eileen's girl. She and I grew up together. Come inside, I want to hear about you and your life. Don't worry, we're going to help you out in anyway we can. Right, Brian?"

The man nodded before disappearing around the side of the house, back towards a shed or a barn, Lucy assumed.

This was not the picture Lucy had when she went in search of her uncle, not intending to find an Aunt in the process. Aunt Brianna as she wanted to be called, and Brian was Uncle Brian, sat at a modest kitchen, not large like Dan's kitchen was. Everything was real wood, from floor to walls and ceiling. They lived in a wooden house, not really a log house but close enough. It was decent, maybe a little outdoorsy in a sense, but it was a home nonetheless.

"Your uncle built our home. He's a carpenter and a builder." Aunt Brianna said, as Lucy looked at her tea in front of her. "He's just different. He's got..."

"Autism. It seems like it runs in the family." Lucy said. "Mom had it, Uncle Brian has it...in some ways I think I might have it a little. I'm more of a public face, I can deal with people but if they're crowded around me I can't focus, and I get anxious. My boyfriend was one of the first men that I came in contact with that didn't scare me...okay maybe a little at first but after a while...we just sort of clicked. Like we were meant to be."

Brianna smiled. "I am so happy that you have a family like his that is there for you. From how you described them they already accepted you as one of their own."

"Yeah, I am. But I've decided that being on the road like I am with the WWE isn't what I want. I want to write, maybe create something for myself in Tampa. I like new things but...performing was something that I accidentally found myself involved with when I was trying to escape being scared of people. It's not really something I want and Joe understands it."

Uncle Brian remained quiet, but he was looking at the younger woman. "What will you name it?"

"What?" Lucy looked at him, focusing on his red hair that looked so much like Stephen's.

"What will you name the baby?"

"Um...if it's a girl, and I've already discussed this with Joe, Kauila Eileen Anoa'i. I want to keep Joe's heritage and mine in the child's name. But if it's a boy, I haven't decided yet. I like Kai because it's Hawaiian for ocean. I'll be living in Florida which is right on the ocean. I remember Mom telling me that I had green eyes so green they were like sea turtles. I've been obsessed with sea turtles ever since. My necklace was given to me by Joe because of it."

Brian didn't say anything for a while. "The Irish have many water dwelling spirits McCool is one of them..." and he went into telling her an Irish myth.

For some reason Lucy liked Brian. He reminded her a lot of her mother Eileen. And instead of going to a hotel, Lucy was put up in her niece's old room.

"We have open hearts and open minds, Lucy." Brianna said. "Maybe soon, over time, you can learn your family here."

"I don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable with me, being a burden on them. I mean...no one knew they were dead, that they died. I just came to bring closure."

"I know. And tomorrow, we'll drive you to your father's family. Right now, I think sleep is best for your and the babe. May I, I know you're not showing but it's been years since I've been around a baby."

"Um, sure I guess."

Brian looked in at the two woman standing in his daughter's room. At first he wasn't so sure about the girl, she looked too much like his sister Eileen. But she was different. she was like him in some ways. He was sure that in time the family would come together, even in his mother's passing.

"A page turns, the story moves on..." he wishpered the words to himself, the same words his sister would tell him. "You go on living until your story ends and someone else tells it for you."

Here his niece stood, one that he didn't know but loved. She was family...she was going to be apart of his wife's life.

She'll be home for a while before going back to her family, he reminded himself as he left to his room. But she won't forget them.

If she was anything like Eileen, she'll keep on living. She'll keep on turning those pages in her life until someone else tells it for her.

* * *

**Well, what do you think? I thought it was best that Lucy do this on her own, to make her feel like she was coming home to a place she's never been to. **


	46. Chapter 46

Joe had gotten off the phone with Lucy, who was having dinner at her father's parent's place. The club drowned out most of her talking but she understood. The Shield, Nessa, Sophia and a few others decided to go out to a club after the Money in the Bank pay-per-view show to wind down. Lucy told him to go out and have some fun, that he needed it.

"You don't need to stop doing what you like doing just because you're with me, Joe." Lucy told him. "Just stay out of trouble."

Trouble wasn't far away. She was looking right at Joe as he came back to the table where the others sat, drinking beers and having a good time. The Europeans dropped in, so did Phil, John had been invited to sit with them. It was a matter of time before she got what she wanted, just not right now. Now when her adversary was still in the way. When the time was right she would go about it. When she was ready, when the time was absolutely right, then she would go after Joe.

The End Game wasn't yet, but it would happen.

* * *

Lucy hung up her cellphone and smiled at Granny Ferguson. "I wanted to congratulate my boyfriend, he was in a show earlier and..."

The grey haired woman waved her off. "Patrick was a sportsman himself, I know all about that." Granny Ferguson said, smiling at the younger woman. "Are you going to marry this man, since you are carrying his child?"

"Not yet, not so soon. It was a..." Lucy couldn't tell this woman that she'd only been with Joe for over a month.

"Mistake...it usually is." Granny Ferguson said taking a sip of her whine. "In these cases it's always the woman's fault. We are creatures of habit, you know."

So, it was Ma all over again. She didn't know what to think, it was like Lucy was sitting back in her childhood home listening to Ma Cena berating Matt's girlfriend for causing so much trouble for the Cena family. A gold digger, that's what Ma had called the teen.

"You'll give the child a proper Christian name won't you?" Granny Ferguson said, bringing Lucy's attention back to the conversation.

It was hard to breathe. This woman was cold, all hundred or so pounds of her. She was mean looking in Lucy's eyes. She would have gotten along great with Ma Cena all right.

"We haven't discussed this yet. Joe, uh Joseph, is Samoan and..."

"A half breed? Well, at least Patrick was smart enough to stick with our heritage. Though you look too much like your mother. Lucy...not really an Irish name you know."

"Lucina actually. It means Light."

"Well, if you're any bit like your mother...you're not bright enough." Granny Ferguson laughed bitterly before taking a drink of her whine.

"What do you, or did you, have against the O'Caire family?" Lucy asked, getting the faintest impression this woman was a cold hearted bitch to begin with.

Bree Ferguson swirled the wine in her glass, looking Lucy over as she thought of what to say. "My son fell in love with a retarded woman."

To hear a relatve say that hurt her immensely. Lucy fought the urge to stand up and throw the glass of water at the woman's face. If she was really a Ferguson she would have and Nessa would have been more than happy to hear she did. But Lucy had more restraint than that.

"I mean, look at it my way, Lass. She didn't know how to conduct herself in public..."

"She wouldn't know how. Not knowing how to interact with people, because being social was like having to know a second language."

She huffed. "Sure, I suppose...maybe."

"There's no maybe about it. I lived it, I live it now. I'm sitting in front of a woman who cares nothing but for her own image. Sitting in a proper home, drinking the finest wine. Who didn't care that her son was dead when I told you."

The woman started getting red in the face. Anger or embarrassment, Lucy wasn't sure but she was getting her point across. That woman had a right to say her mind, but to say it about her own birth mother was not going to fly for Lucy.

"By the way, it wasn't my mother's fault they died. It was a drunk. A drunk man T-Boned the car during a storm and to this day I am deathly afraid of them thunder storms. I panic, I freak out because I remember being in that car as a five year old. My Mom telling me to stay awake while she died in front of me. And this is her ring." Lucy held her ring finger up on her left hand. "This is her wedding ring, the one Dad gave her. I keep it because I loved them, even if I barely know them. And here you are telling me that my mom was retarded. Well, let me put it to you this way, Granny Ferguson...maybe she wasn't the retarded one. You are."

Stress wasn't good on a pregnant woman.

"My mother was a good woman, a little different yes but I am different. I have a touch of Asperger's Syndrome, just like Mom, like my Uncle Brian. You called her retarded, then I must be one too. Excuse me." Lucy pushed herself back in the chair before standing up.

"Where are you going?" Bree almost screeched standing up from the table.

"Back to a family that actually cares. You can keep your money, your righteousness and anything else...I don't want it."

Lucy made out to the walk as the woman, Granny Ferguson, called out after her. "You're just like your Ma! Stupid. Pregnant and stupid. You should kill that thing growing in ya!"

"Take your righteous fucking remarks and shove it up your God Damned Arse!" Lucy yelled, earning looks from others around the nice neighborhood. "You're nothing but a hag. Better to die alone and happy, rather die alone and hated. At least Granny O'Caire will have me there. Buzz off, you gnat!"

Athy was small, if this hollering fight was so popular the town would know what was going on. The lost Ferguson child found her way home. Unfortunately Aunt Brianna had dropped her off before having to go to the market to pick up food, that left Lucy in a predicament. She was walking in the wrong direction, her phone almost dead and it was nearing darkness. If there never a time in her life where Lucy felt alone, this was one of those moments. She was alone in a country so far away. She was the stranger there, she was the odd one out.

Lucy was alone.

Maybe after a mile of walking the sound of an approaching vehicle alerted her that someone was coming. The neighborood changed from subdivision to rural in moments. Modern to wild, known and unknown, those were the best words to describe this place. It was at odds with each other. Like it seemed that her dear Granny Ferguson was a racist bitch. Well, everyting can't be perfect.

The car slowed down, the driver's side on her side of the street. The window rolled down and a bright redhead stuck out. It was freckled nose Uncle Brian. Lucy couldn't help but to smile at him, even if he didn't smile back.

"It didn't go well, did it?" He asked.

"No, it didn't go well, Uncle Brian. May I have a ride back to your home?"

"I drove out here for this purpose. Eileen did not last long in the Ferguson home. I think Ma didn't want Patrick because of this, she thought he was just like his Ma."

"Yeah well, now I know why no one contacted this family. It's all sort of loony. Um...no offense to you, Uncle Brian."

"Get in." He said, pulling his head into the car.

She did. Lucy buckled up and slid into a silence with her uncle.

"Is the turtle okay?" Brian asked, a reference to what Lucy told him about the baby's name if it was a girl. Kauila, the smile came to Lucy's face as she thought of a dark haired daughter with green eyes.

"I hope so, a raised a fuss at Granny Ferguson. I don't think I want that woman in my child's life at all." She paused. "I called her a hag."

"She is one." Uncle Brian stated simply.

She was alone, too. Granny Ferguson. She was alone. Her husband left not long after Patrick did. Grandda Ferguson...

"Do you know if Grandpa Ferguson is alive?" Lucy asked.

"I suppose he would be. He comes by the house from time to time asking me to sheer his sheep. Why?"

"Is he different from Granny Ferguson?"

"Some, he loved Eileen. She read to him well."

"Can you take me to see him, please? I just want him to have some closure." Lucy hoped her uncle would help her out.

Uncle Brian didn't say anything, he just kept driving. They were well outside of the city limirs of Athy, near a river where an old cobblestone home. It looked like something out of all her old European history books. It was large, but it wasn't modern looking, not like Granny Ferguson's place.

"This is your grandfather's home. He should be here."

Grandpa Ferguson...would he accept her?

Would he be just like Granny Ferguson?

* * *

**Just a filler. I couldn't think of something at the moment and a lot of people wanted to know what kind of people the Ferguson family was like. So here you go.**


	47. Chapter 47

It was like looking back into the past. Connor Ferguson watched the woman accompying Brian O'Caire towards the manor. She was red haired, but not exactly like her mother. Her hair had been more strawberry blonde the last time he'd seen the child.

Connor remembered when his son Patrick brought the redheaded girl Eileen to the manor the first time. She didn't look him in the face when Patrick introduced Eileen O'Caire to Bree and himself.

"Ma, Da, this is Eileen O'Caire. She and I have been seeing each other for the last six months." Patrick said, placing a hand on Eileen's back.

"How do you do?" She asked timidly.

Connor smiled at the girl, but his wife was a little more disdained by her clothing. "What were you, raised in a barn?"

"My family sheer sheeps for the wool industry." She responded, not taking the hint that it was a sarcastic question.

Bree Ferguson huffed, looking at the shorter woman down her nose. "I see. You know you should look at me directly if you talk to me."

"Dear, leave her be." Connor said. "Are you on the university paper?" He asked seeing a folder in her arms.

"No, I write, Mr. Ferguson. It's nothing special."

"Of course..." Patrick's mother laughed.

"Bree, stop. Go and make tea for us." Connor shot his wife a look, and again she huffed before moving off to the downstairs kitchen. "Please excuse my wife, lass, she isn't really..."

"Accepting of others?"

"Yes, well, that isn't the first time." Patrick said as they sat in the sitting room. "My mother doesn't like women around me, Leen."

"I'm sorry."

"It isn't your fault, Child." Connor said. "This isn't your fault. Now, what are you writing?"

"It's a murder mystery. Patrick said you had a publishing company and I thought...maybe..." She held the folder out to him. "I want to teach children to write, to write their own stories in their own ways. Children like me."

"Oh, children with difficulties in social settings? Writing to express themselves. Patrick told me about your autism."

She blushed slightly, looking away as she played with a ring on her left hand finger. Conor liked this girl, she was nice, not cold like his wife. Eileen O'Caire had shown his son that not everything was black and white, there were colors in sound, there were songs with the birds. She saw the world differently. She was different but it was good. But when Bree found out that Eileen was autistic, it was game on so to speak.

"You're autistic. Well, that's a shame. I mean, do you understand what to do with a real man?"

"Bree!" Conor's voice boomed as he set the folder on a nearby table.

"Ma!" Patrick stood up, but Eileen ducked her head in shame. "That is not for you to say."

"Oh come on, Patrick, look at the lass. She can't look me in the face. She doesn't speak real well and she...she is a commoner. Look at her cloths, garbage. Not a soul of any idea how to dress properly."

Eileen wore black skinny jeans with sneakers and a wool knit sweater over a basic white shirt that hid something else. Something...no someone that was growing inside of her.

"Then how is it that she got a job as a teacher over in America?" Patrick asked.

"You would give up your ruggers scholarship to follow this floozy to the States!" Bree's voice rose drastically as she stood up as well.

The young redhead woman couldn't take it. She stood up and left the room, hands over her face, it was a miracle she even made it out out the front door. She'd left her folder of papers. It didn't take long for Patrick to follow the girl, which Connor couldn't blame him for.

Soon after Bree had run off his son, she'd run Connor off as well.

And for a while Connor stared at the woman that Brian O'Caire had brought to the manor. But he knew her, he had met her.

"Grandpa Connor?" She asked, as if realizing something for the first time in ages. A memory coming back to her.

* * *

It was back when Lucy was about five years old. It was the beginning of the school year and she was starting to show her issues but it wasn't as bad as her mother. Patrick and Eileen tried to keep their daughter happy but she was so much like her mother, they knew that over time...

"Momma, look!" Little Lucy yelled as she kicked the ball to her father. "I'm going to be a football player when I grow up!"

Eileen, six years older now, smiled at the girl as she stood on the front steps of their Boston brick home. They had a nice sized yard that wrapped around to the backyard. No one would know a little girl lived in that house, no it looked like a little boy lived there. She was happy, Eileen was happy to see her beloved Patrick there with their little girl, playing football in the front yard.

"Yes you are, Lucina. Little Light, be careful!" Her joy turned to terror as the ball went running towards the sidewalk. "We need a fence, Paddy."

"I know, love." Patrick responded, pushing his light brown hair from his face as he went to stop his daughter from getting near the street.

The soccer ball bumped in the well polished shoes of a man she didn't know. As she caught the ball when it came back towards her, she looked up. Lucy was small, she was always going to be small her doctor said. This man was tall, at least to her she was. In Lucy's eyes this man looked stern but his light eyes twinkled when he smiled at her.

"Da? Da, what are you doing here?" Her Daddy asked walking up.

"Mr. Ferguson?" Eileen came up as well, putting her hands on Lucy's shoulders.

"I, uh...I just wanted to make sure you were both okay. I didn't know...she's beautiful." The tall man said, motioning to Lucy.

"Thank you. Would you like to come in?" Eileen asked respectfully, glancing at her husband.

"I would like that very much. What's your name, little Lass?" The man knelt to her level, but like Eileen she looked away from his eyes.

She looked at her father, Patrick nodded and she looked at the older man in front of her. "I'm Lucina. It means light."

"You look like your Ma. You have her big green eyes."

"Turtle eyes." She said, moving away from the man, hiding behind her father's legs.

"Green turtle eyes?"

"Sea turtle eyes." She responded.

"Oh, I see. They are green like sea turtles. Do you know who I am?" She shook her head, not saying a word at the moment. "I'm your grandpa, I'm from Ireland. Your eyes are green like sea turtles but they are also green like the Emerald Isle." The man smiled at her, even if she wasn't really looking back at him. "I spoke to Ms. O'Caire. Your father...he's gone I'm afraid." He spoke to Lucy's mother at this point as he stood up.

"What happened?" Eileen asked.

"He...died of a heart illness." Conor stood up. "I came to see how you were doing."

"We're doing just fine. If you think..." Patrick started to say.

"I'm not asking you back to Ireland, lad. I'm here to check up on you for my own sanity. Do you still drink tea, Lass?"

She nodded, steering Lucy back to the building.

Now here Lucy stood in front of an old man with a cane in the doorway to a very large house. He was still tall, but he was skinny. Bone skinny actually but still wore a suit. He was prim and propper but his twinkling blue eyes sparkled when she recognized him. He may have been older, nearly twenty years older now.

"Hello, Lass. Brian, it's so nice to see you again. What brings you both out my way? It's far isn't it?" Connor asked.

"She met Ms. Bree." Brian said as Connor let them in.

"And how did that go?"

"Swimmingly if I do say so myself." Being sarcastic was something Lucy didn't quite possess. "Basically told me it was my mom's fault she got pregnant with me. When I stood up to her, she yells at me on her front porch that I need to kill the thing that's growing in me."

"I don't think I follow."

"I'm pregnant."

"Oh...and where's the father?"

"He's back in the States. He's a wrestler for the WWE."

Connor and Lucy sat down in the same front room he had sat with Patrick and Eileen so many years ago. Uncle Brian had left to go look at the sheep.

"Your uncle always loved sheep. He was gentle to them, always seemed to know what they were thinking. Your Granny and Grandfather were wool workers and he just had a knack of it himself. Raised ewes and kids right."

Lucy nodded. "Granny Bree called my baby a half breed."

"She prefers pureblood, pure Irish blood. Can't say it's right. Why? Is your child going to be half black?"

"Sort of, my boyfriend is Samoan."

"Samoan, oh well, that's interesting. I've been to Hawaii myself. Loved the place and culture. I'm an anthropologist, but I run a lucrative publish company. I loved to study people and human culture. Your father was a lad of many visions for himself. Can't say your grandmother was very accepting of anything less than perfect. Did you know your mother wanted me to read her story?"

"She wrote a story?"

"Oh yes. I think I still have it around here. Let me go look."

The place looked like a professor lived there. Everything was mahogany it looked like. Old fashioned furniture, even a rotary dialed phone rested on a nearby wall table. In a roll top desk in the back of the sitting room Grandpa Conor shuffled through a drawer before pulling out an old light blue folder.

"I don't know how many times I've read and reread that story. It's quite well written but unfortunately it's unfinished. She left it here when my wife at the time basically told her she wasn't welcomed here. I knew what she was, what she had. Autism. I think she had Asperger's really. I've looked it up and it's interesting to say how well she worked words better on paper than she did when she spoke. Here, I've copied it so you can have the original copy."

"Is there anything of my father that I can have?"

"Oh, his room is up on the second floor. I kept much of it as it is. You can go up there if you want. Take anything you wish. I'm going to go check on Brian and the sheep. Excuse me."

She learned so much about her mother, but she didn't know much about her father. She knew he was a rugby player and that he loved soccer.

How long did she spend in a room where there were old football jerseys, and strange baseball bats with balls and a face helmet? Hurling, it looked like baseball but more brutal, it kind of reminded her of lacrosse. It was interesting the bats were cool looking to Lucy. She picked up one of the wooden paddles and smiled. It felt right to her. Maybe that's why she was so ingrained into being on a baseball team growing up. She was like her father in her sport choices, but like her mother emotionally.

This was where her heritage began, but her family, her heart was back in America.

It was going to be hard to leave it behind. Lucy would have to go home soon, but not without saying goodbye to someone really special to her.

* * *

**Well there you go. Now you know what happened between Patrick and Eileen's family. Did it make any sense to you?**


	48. Chapter 48

There was an email on his phone. Joe saw that it had come from Lucy and when he opened the email there was a video file. He opened it and smiled at what he was looking at.

It was of someone filming Lucy with her own phone. She was standing in a herd of white fluffy sheep and she was cutting the wool off with these large sheering scissors. A red haired man, maybe in his fifties, was showing her how to do it. Joe leaned on his knees, his gear on and his hair wet and limp around his elbows. He had a smile on his face.

"What ya looking at there, fella?" Stephen asked, walking up to the Samoan.

In the time since Lucy had basically blown the case wide open on Brie and Nikki's backstabbing ways, and with the help of Phil, Joe and Stephen had become friends. The redhead Irishman was always willing to fill Lucy in on his Irish heritage and so Joe decided to pay him back. Plus maybe the older man could help him with what's going on in his head.

"Lucy's uncle, Brian, is showing her how to give sheep haircuts." Joe said handing Stephen the phone.

Stephen bit out a laugh, shaking his head. "She's got a way with animals, she does. Did you say he was like her, with autism?"

"He's got Asperger's yes, and a wife and like two kids around Lucy's age. All redheads, a boy and a girl. Bran and Branwen, twins."

"Keeping with the B names is he?"

"Well, I guess. Brian is an Irish mythology buff. I think her grandfather, Grandpa Connor, is an anthropologist who owns sheep and a publishing company. He hired Brian to sheer his sheep for him at this large mansion." Joe explained taking the phone back from him.

But that wasn't all, there was something else on Joe's mind. Something has been going on with one of the divas, Aksana to be precise. She had been showing up, just to talk whenever he was alone. I don't think she would try anything around Nessa, that crazy blonde would tear her hair out if Aksana made a move on Joe in front of her. He hadn't said anything because there was no harm, he thought, in just talking to the woman. But it was some of the things she said.

"Okay, Lad, out with it. What's on your mind?" Stephen handed Joe his phone back and then sat next to him on the bench in the locker room.

"I...I'm not sure what to think. I have been talking with Aksana and...she's been very nice. I know what she did to Lucy when the Bellas were around. But she's been awfully nice to me. I'm keeping a close eye on this but...I just feel she's got something else going on."

Stephen nodded. "I would be wary, too. She is not one to be taken lightly, especially with your relationship with Lucy. I know the issue you had with Brie, and how she and her sister tricked Cena about you, wished I could have seen it back then."

"Look, Ste, no one could see through them back then. I'm just worried. Lucy is pregnant, she doesn't need to think I'm out to break her heart. If I do that, I loose the best thing I have worked so hard to get. Should I talk to her about this?"

"Maybe...I wouldn't know. I've never had this issue before. Best to ask Colby and Sophia about it."

"Why?"

"They've been together for seven years, yeah? How does she deal with being home and he's off being a wrestler? Does she worry he'll step out of line, go beyond their limits with other women? Ask Jericho about being married and having children back home with a wife."

"I also know what happened with Cena and his first wife."

"Not all of them are like that, lad."

He hoped that was the case, otherwise Joe's relationship was done before it began.

* * *

A week had gone by since Lucy met Grandpa Connor and in that week Granny Caireen started to get worse in her last days. Aunt Brianna and Uncle Brian, along with Bran and Branwen were there at the hospital and needless to say that shocked the old woman. But then Grandpa Connor showed up at the hospital with flowers.

"What are you doing here?" Granny Caireen demanded seeing the Ferguson father standing there.

Branwen glanced at Lucy as she stared at her other grandfather. It wasn't that Bran or Branwen had ever met the man, but they've heard about the story surrounding what happened between their aunt and their families.

"I came to say my regards. I think Eileen would have liked that." Grandpa Connor said. "I never hated her, not like my ex wife did. Bree was...difficult to accept anything less than perfect. In her eyes, no one was perfect enough for our son."

"He treated her right." Granny Caireen said, giving him a nod. "I just wish I had been more accepting of her and her wishes. I always thought it was impossible for her to make her own friends because of her...autism."

"Then what about Uncle Brian? He has it but...he's got a wonderful wife and the twins." Lucy pointed out.

"Aye, he does. He opened my eyes to my bitterness but...even I pushed him away. I'm sorry for that, Brian." Granny said, looking at her remaining child.

"It's okay." He said, shrugging.

"No, it isn't okay. I pushed you away, I puished your sister away. I was angry at everyone for leaving me with a sick husband. None of you deserved that. I just wanted everyone to be together but when Eileen left it felt like everyone was leaving me, it really felt like after your father grew ill and died."

Uncle Brian glanced at her, before walking up to the bed. He leaned down and hugged the frail old woman, lightly hugging her to him.

"I love you, Ma." He said.

Lucy watched as Aunt Brianna walked up and hugged Granny Caireen. Then the twins, both redheads like their father. They looked at Lucy as they stepped back. By then it was really obvious that it was getting close for Granny Caireen. Her breathing was rapid, she was weazing. She was dying.

"Granny..." Lucy's voice shook. "I'm sorry." She had to get out of there, she had to leave for a moment. Flashes of her mother's bloody face flashed in front of her eyes. Grandpa Conor followed her out.

"The pages are just going to keep on going until the story is through. And then you have to tell her story." Grandpa Connor said walking up with the audible thunk of his cane.

"I can't watch another person die." Lucy gasped, her hand pressed into her stomach. "I look at her and I remember that night when my mom died. I can't...I can't..."

"Lass, it's better to not die alone. You need closure. They need you because you brought them together." Granpa Connor pointed into the room with his cane. "You made her very happy. She needs you, Lucina. She needs a little bit of light in her life before she's gone."

Light in the darkness.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy walked back into the room. The drapes were closed, preventing light from outside in. She didn't want to see the light but Lucy did. The twins stepped back as Lucy went straight for the window, throwing back the curtains. Granny Caireen jerked, hissed slightly but otherwise didn't do much anything else.

"Let light into your darkness, Granny. I don't want you going in the dark." She smiled, leaning on the railing of the bed. "When my baby is born I'm going to tell her your story. I believe you have to know where you came from to figure out where you need to go in life." She said reaching out to hold her hand. "You'll be with Mom and Dad."

She nodded, smiling weakly.

An hour later, Caireen O'Caire was gone from the world. Lucy shared in a family hug with her aunt, uncle, cousins and Grandpa, grieving for the loss of a family member. Granny Caireen had long since suffered in her life, now she wasn't suffering anymore.

A few hours later, back at Uncle Brian's place, Lucy picked up her phone and dialed the only person that could calm her down. Joe answered on the third ring, breathless. Then she heard Aksana in the background.

"Come back here, Joseph." Aksana was heard saying.

Lucy stared at the phone. It felt as if her world had stopped. What just happened?

"Babygirl, are you there?" Joe tried caling her, pressing the phone to his ear. "Shit...shit...shit." He practically chanted as he hung up and called her back again. No answer, she wasn't picking up. "You!"

"I did nothing you didn't already want to do." Aksana ran her tongue over her lips, smoothing out the messed up lipstick.

Joe feverishly tried to wipe the remnents of that kiss off himself, attempting to get as far away from the Lithuanian tramp as possible. Now he understood why she was the way she was. She was trying to break them up.

"Nessa, I need your help." He ran into the makeup room where she was tending to Layla.

"Why is there makeup on your face?"

"That tramp, Aksana, kissed me. And then Lucy called, heard her and I can't get her to answer my calls. You have to understand, I didn't do anything, it was all her fault."

Nessa stared at the man in front of her, her hands frozen in an attempt at brushing Layla's hair.

"You know what, let me handle this." Layla smiled. "Get a hold of Lucy, Nessa. You..." She pointed to Joe. "Go get ready for the show tonight and I'll go do something about embarrassing the skank. Excuse me."

All Joe knew was that he needed to get Lucy back, that's all he needed right now.

* * *

**I don't really know if this was the best chapter to come up with. What do you think? **


	49. Chapter 49

Nessa threw down her phone and cursed. "She's not picking up."

The men of The Shield looked at each other, Sophia was texting Lucy but she wasn't getting any headway with the girl. No one, not even Phil, could get a hold of her. The group of friends were all in the locker room, and they all were at a loss of what to do. Joe couldn't take time off, Lucy wasn't even expected back to the States for two more weeks, for the sentencing hearing of Dane.

The door opened and in walked Paul Levesque. "What's the word?" He asked looking at the group of friends and family that Lucy had acquired.

"We can't get a hold of her." Jon said, speaking up while Nessa plopped down on the bench next to him. "Not even Dan or Christi could get an answer from her in return."

"I'm giving you until Sunday, Joe." Paul looked at the Samoan. "Vince is giving you his private plane. Lucy means the world to us, she's opened the world up to being aware of autism."

"Problem with that," Joe said looking up at him. "She wants to quit the WWE. This isn't her passion, this isn't what she wants to do for the rest of her life. It makes her uncomfortable being surrounded by so many people. Right now I have to prove to her that what happened wasn't what she thought." Joe grabbed his stuff and stood up. "Where's the plane?"

* * *

Uncle Brian watched his niece sitting on a rock, her head in her hands as she leaned on her knees. She had been quiet since returning to Athy with him. He knew something was wrong but it wasn't his business, it wasn't something that he wanted to get in with. Pregnant women could be daunting creatures to deal with and the last thing he wanted was the wrath of his niece or his wife on his arse for something he said. But he knew whatever was bothering her could hurt the babe in her tummy, so...

"You're going to help me." Uncle Brian said walking up to the young woman on the large bolder in the middle of the sheep field.

Lucy hadn't expected to see her uncle there. Nor had she expected him to be so forthcoming with a demand. Usually she was the one asking if he needed help and he'd let her. But...this was different. He never demanded anything from her.

"What?"

"Dry your eyes, lass. You're going to help me with the sheep. We need to clean the barn, fix that fence over there..." he rattled off a list of things as he stood there, not really looking at her. "Brianna isn't here and I need the help."

"Um...okay. I guess so." She wiped her eyes with her hands. "Let's fix the fence so that the sheep don't wondering into the woods."

"Mustn't let the sidh get them." He mumbled walking away, Lucy following right after him.

The sidhe, Lucy found out, were fairies of Irish folklore. Often called sidhe, pronounced as Shee, or the Good Folk, the Wee Folk and they lived in nature or under certain mounds. Uncle Brian had a fascination for the sidhe, and if she asked questions about certain ones, his favorite were leprechauns, Lucy ended up getting an entire lecture on the topic. But it eased the time spent hammering a board into place to fix the fence.

Feeding the sheep was fun, and Lucy noticed that her uncle would talk to them, petting each as he did so. The animals on this Irish farmstead were accepting of her uncle. His quiet nature allowed them not to fear him. There were twenty sheep he owned, there was a large draft horse named Clyde the Clydsdale who grazed with the sheep and slept in the same barn with them. He'd followed Lucy around the first day of her stay at the farm. He looked like the horse from Beauty and the Beast, that old Disney cartoon movie. He was a beautiful creature and an easy ear to have around.

Aunt Brianna had returned from the market and saw the uncle and niece together. Her son and daughter had left to go back to their friends in Dublin but would be coming back to Athy when the funeral of Granny Caireen was to happen. As Aunt Brianna was putting the food away in the kitchen, she heard a phone go off. It was Lucy's cell phone going off as it lay on the counter and upon further notice it was a call from Joe, since his face was her background on the phone.

"'Ello?" Aunt Brianna asked, answering the phone.

"Um, Aunt Brianna, this is Joe. I've been trying to get a hold of Lucy. Is she there?"

"She is, lad. But unfortunately she is mad at you something big. Now I am not going to get in on your business with my niece but I hope you plan on fixing this. She's been moping around for two days and the funeral is in two more."

"I'm preparing to fly out there. I'll be in tomorrow morning. I just...sort of need your address. You don't have to tell her that I'm coming, I would rather it be a surprise." Joe said as he was entering the private jet of Vince McMahon.

Aunt Brianna made a noise, like a hum sound. "Tell ya what I'll do, Lad. I'll not speak of this if you promise me you didn't intentionally hurt her."

"No, I didn't. One of those damned divas had cornered me in a hall and kissed me when Lucy called. I picked up and Lucy heard the woman in the background. I love Lucy with all my heart, she is the light of my life, the mother of my child. I would never intentionally hurt her like that."

The aunt brewed it over, pouting slightly in thought. "Then I will see you tomorrow." She gave the man the address and hung up, intending that he would keep his promise.

When the next day did roll around, Lucy was back to sulking, sort of. The tales of the sidh from Uncle Brian had intrigued her, she felt she wanted to go on a walk of the woods that surrounded the property and that's what she decided to do. But at the same time she left, Joe was arriving by cab.

"Where is she?" Joe asked desperately as the cabbie was unloading his stuff from the cab.

"She's left on a walk of the forest. You could wait until she came back." Aunt Brianna suggested as Uncle Brian came around the side of the house.

"Go that way." He said, pointing in the direction he had seen Lucy go. "I don't trust a lass on a trail by herself in a wood where the trooping fey dwell."

That was the answer he was waiting for. Giving a swift thank you to the older man, Joe ran off in the direction he had been pointed to. He ran as fast as he could. He couldn't risk not finding her in that forest of green trees and plants that were foreign to him. He didn't want to loose his love, his light.

"I need to find her." He said, stopping. "I need to find my light."

At first he thought he heard bells, maybe laughter, but it was strange. He looked for the source, thinking that someone was playing tricks on him. Joe was sick of people playing games on his life. But the sounds called to him, regardless. They drifted up a small path that looked like it hadn't been walked on for a while. And he followed his gut, cutting off the main path and heading on this path.

What he found was a small pond, like a cobblestone circled low well. It was filled to the brim with water, clear spring water that was fed by and underground spring. And standing at that well was a figure, an auburn beauty that was gazing into the surface of the water with her back to him. He knew who it was instantly. It was the woman Joe had flown out to see, the woman that lit his life and soul with her gentle light.

It was his Lucy.

She didn't notice him, she was too far drawn into her mind to realize who was there. But then she watched as Joe's face appeared over her shoulder, followed by the rest of his upper torso. Lucy's eyes went big as she gazed at what she thought was a hallucination at first until Joe finally spoke.

"Babygirl." His voice was low and shaking slightly.

She spun around to look at Joe, seeing him there. But how was that possible? How did he know where to find her if he didn't know the address?

"Go away." She finally said, her voice almost dripping with anger, her shocked face changing to that emotion.

"No. I'm not going anywhere. I never did anything with that woman. Aksana came onto me, Lucy. You just called when she did that. That's why I was out of breath, the shock of it prevented me from breathing. I never did this to hurt you. I tried..."

"I don't know who to believe anymore! I don't know what to believe. I thought I could trust you. I loved you, Joe."

"It wasn't me that was wrong, Lucy. It was Aksana. She trapped in a fucking hall and she kissed me."

Joe grabbed Lucy by her upper arms, preventing her from walking away.

"I trusted you!" She yelled.

But Joe didn't say anything. He managed to steal a kiss, something he wanted to do the moment he saw her. His hands moved from her arms to her face so that she couldn't pull away. He poured everything he had in him into that kiss. He poured all his want and need for her and she fought at first. But then she overcame that anger, allowing to let herself kiss him back.

Every cell in her was electrified. Joe was the only person that did this to her body. Touch was different for her, her sensory perception wired differently from other people. He made her feel different. This was what she knew, she knew if he had been unfaithful she would have felt it in that kiss. And that electric feeling intensified as Lucy pushed herself into that kiss, finding her fingers attacking his belt.

"Babygirl..." Joe managed to get out when he pulled back. "We don't..."

"I'm a horny pregnant woman who hasn't seen her boyfriend in weeks." She growled out managing to get his belt to cooperate. "Makeup sex is supposed to be hot and heavy, Nessa said."

Now who was the animal in the relationship, Joe mused as he attacked her neck with his mouth.

This was a new experience for the both of them. If Lucy was so enclined to believe her uncle's stories, all that knew what they were doing was the trees, plants and forest animals. If there were little Tinkerbells and Pixies, maybe even a leprechaun or two peaking out from their places in the forest, it all melted away as Joe sank himself into her tight channel.

"Oh Joe!" She cried, holding onto his shoulder, her lower back pressed to the wall of the well.

It was a feverish pace for them, that want and need to touch each other mixed with the pregnant hormones of Lucy, drove them to that brink. Flesh on flesh, moans and groans, the passion of each lover mixed in a magical blend weaving through the area. It was something they needed, that release of emotion through the arcane act of connection.

Lucy screamed, releasing herself to the pleasure and the need to let that scream out from all her doubts and worries. Joe's roar mixed with her, dancing among the trees, stirring up the birds that flew into the air. Joe rested one hand on the well, supporting Lucy with his other as they both relaxed with each other, him not willing to let her go or she would pass through his fingers like water. No, he needed to know she was there, that she was going to stay there.

"I'm sorry." Lucy whispered.

"For what, Babygirl." He asked setting her down on the ground making sure her shaky legs could support her.

"For being a total psycho bitch on with you. I can't say it was the hormones doing all the talking. I guess there was that little part of my brain about what happened wth Brie that was still nagging at me."

He nodded, pushing her hair from her face. "Babygirl, I would never do that. I would never do that to you. I was raised better than that, I was raised to honor every woman I come in contact with. And when I'm with you, I'm the happiest. No one else has ever made me as happy as I am with you."

"I'm still sorry."

"There's nothing to forgive, Lucy. I love you no matter what."

She kissed him. In front of the trees, the well, the plants. Maybe there was a trixie pixie laughing, the bells on his shoes jingling as he held his stomach. Or maybe it was all in her head, flashing back to the stories Lucy's mother told.

A fairytale with a happy ending, so far.

But would the next page be for Lucy and Joe? That hasn't been written yet. Only time would tell for them.

* * *

**Can't say I am in total love with it but it's the best I could come up with. How'd you guys like it?**


	50. Chapter 50

The funeral was over with, not that Lucy had really gone to many of them in her life. She stood staring at the headstones, one for Granny Caireen and one for Grandpa Colin. Grandpa Colin was Granny Caireen's husband, the one that died and from the looks of the date on his headstone it was when Lucy was three years old.

Grandpa Connor approached Joe, who had respectfully given Lucy some room to mourn.

"You must be Leati Joe Anoa'i. I'm Connor Ferguson, Lucy's grandfather." He said holding his hand out to the Samoan.

"It's nice to meet you, sir."

"Has Lucy got in touch with her friends back in the States?"

Joe nodded turning his gaze back to Lucy. "She did. She just didn't know how to express her confusion to anyone, that's why she wasn't talking to anyone for a few days. My boss leant me his private plane until I leave tomorrow."

"Will you be taking Lucy with you then?"

"I don't want to cause her anymore trouble, sir. She is still grieving and...it's like one thing happens after the other right now. She lost her grandmother on the day that a woman tried breaking Lucy and I up."

"What happened with the woman?"

"She was suspended after one of the other divas stole her cloths and threw them into a trash can outside."

"Something's on your mind, Lad. What is it?" The older man said adjusting his stance because his left leg was bothering him.

"I don't want to disappoint her ever again. She wants to quit the WWE, and I understand why. She was only there for a temporary reason, because she needed to get used to people after nearly getting raped. Then there was the issue with Orton...now Aksana...all of this gives her a reason to want to leave the company. And if she leaves I won't get to see her often enough."

"She spoke about her friend Sophia, a childhood friend of hers that's dating a superstar. Maybe they can tell you how to deal with the distance thing."

"Everyone keeps telling me the same thing. The idea of leaving her alone while I'm on the road, with her being pregnant now, I think I'll pull my hair out when the baby is born with worry."

Grandpa Connor laughed to himself. "Ah, but that's what women in families are for, they watch out for each other. Your family seems to take the lead as helping her out."

"When my mom found out that Lucy was pregnant she was over the moon and crying at the same time. My sisters, brother, Dad, everyone is so excited for us. They feel honored the Lucy wants to keep the Samoan name thing going on. Kauila, but still honoring her heritage at the same time by giving the girl Eileen as a middle name."

"Do you think the child might have autism? Science has theoried that autism is hereditary. If Eileen had it, and Lucy has it...are you scared the child might have it?"

"I am, but then again, I'm not. Lucy knows how to conduct herself in a social situation and I will provide everything that the child needs." Joe said as he watched Bran and Branwen wrap their cousin in a hug. "She finally found her family here, I don't want to take it from her."

"She keeps saying her heart is with you. Yes she'll miss us, but we're a phone call, email and a text away. Either we'll come to visit or you all are welcomed back here."

That was what Joe wanted, for Lucy to have people to come back to.

* * *

When they got back to the O'Caire farm, Uncle Brian changed into his usual work cloths and headed out to the barn. The Twins, as they were often referred to as, went back to their lives in Dublin. Grandpa Connor went back to his place to rest, his bad leg was acting up on him. Aunt Brianna was going to take a nap. That just left Lucy and Joe to figure out what to do.

"It's hard for us to mourn I guess." Lucy said watching her Uncle as he sheered a sheep in a paddock next to the barn. "We just don't know what to do. I understand death, I've seen it over my life, but I don't know why I can't express it."

"Maybe it's not hard for you to grieve. I know when my grandmother died I had a hard time getting over it." Joe said, linking his fingers with hers. "It took me a month to get over it. She was my favorite one. She loved telling me stories about Hawaii, about life back then in her day. She encouraged me to accept my heritage as a Samoan."

"But I didn't have that bond with anyone, not really. I didn't really know Granny Caireen and I think that's where my problem lies. I don't know how to mourn for someone I know but I didn't know, you understand? Like I think it was a year before I understood my mom was not coming back, that Dad wasn't going to teach me how to play soccer. But if it was someone close but not close to me, I probably wouldn't."

They stayed quiet for a few moments before Joe started walking towards the barn where Uncle Brian was. Joe understood that Uncle Brian had more autistic issues than Lucy did and that he wasn't as socially capable as she was. But something pulled at his mind, he wanted to get close to the older redhead man. So he was going to ask something he'd probably wouldn't have done in the first place.

"Uncle Brian?" Joe spoke up as Lucy came upon them. "Can I try that? Sheeing sheep I mean? May I help you with that?"

"Okay." The older man said, looking at the Samoan a little.

For the rest of the the day Uncle Brian had Joe doing odd jobs around the farm. Lucy stayed back and watched them, even the sheep were well used to the strange man that hanging around. Unless you were Ol' Billy, the oldest sheep in Uncle Brian's possession. Ol' Billy ended up ramming Joe sqaure in the ass as he was leaning over petting one of the younger sheep kids. Fell straight into the mud face first. All the while Lucy had accidentally filmed it.

"That wasn't funny." Joe said as he was cleaning up in the bathroom a little while later.

"Yes it was, sweetie. Your mom thought it was." Lucy said, resting her head on the doorframe to the bathroom.

Joe seemed too big for everything around him, the house and now the bathroom. The room Lucy stayed in was like a closet if he was standing in the middle of the room.

"You sent it to my mom?"

"And if someone hasn't done it yet, probably Facebook and Twitter if Colby hadn't already."

"Why you little..."

Lucy shrieked and ran out of there, down the hall, down the stairs and outside, with a rampaging bull of a boyfriend right behind her. Uncle Brian and Aunt Brianna watched them, entertained by the idea of seeing the young couple finally back together on good terms. They watched Joe chase Lucy around the backyard, being mindful of the gnome statues that Uncle Brian insisted on having out there around the garden.

Joe didn't want to make Lucy fall or anything, he didn't want to exhaust her, or cause stress on the baby. But she was still a fast runner at this point, but he was a little faster, blocking her attempts at running away from him.

"They look happy." Uncle Brian notes, turning his attention to the sheep.

"They are. What about you? Are you happy?" Aunt Brianna asked.

He nods. He knows he loves his wife, that they have two children that love them, even if they don't actually understand. To Brian O'Caire, the only person that ever truly understood was his wife, his love.

Uncle Brian knew that Lucy and Joe had something real, tangible to the touch. He could see it in the way Joe would look at his niece, the way she looked at him. Looking at people, looking at them in the face usually took a lot of time to do for people even with a touch of autism. Lucy was able to look at him and not look away in fear.

Fear is not being able to understand and Uncle Brian knew Joe didn't fear Lucy and her passions in life. She was different, yes, but her differences made him understand her just as much.

Now it was about time for the story to change. To leave the home she had just come back to, the home she never seen before so that Lucy could go back to her home with Joe.

"Time to turn another page in the story." Uncle Brian mumbled as he started to walk back to the paddock of sheep.

Aunt Brianna smiled at her husband, glancing at her niece and her boyfriend hand in hand as they decided to go walk through the forest one more time. Only time would tell if Lucy and Joe would live the life Aunt Brianna and Uncle Brian had built with each other. It was time that they had to endure together, apart and as one, she knew this. Life wasn't easy with people who loved others that were on the Spectrum, or for the people already there. Nevertheless, it warmed her heart to see that Joe was attempting to prove he had what it took to love someone as special as Lucy.

* * *

**All of you are unbelievable, you know that right. I was so close to ending this story in the last chapter but I tell you...someone speaks something and it's like they make sense and I have to cover that topic. I really want to end this story but...it's kind of hard to, you know. **


	51. Chapter 51

The real world was a scary thought to Lucy. But it seemed like she was at a crisis. Because she was pregnant no one, even Lucy, didn't want her out ringside. So it was decided that she do more behind the scenes. The Ferguson woman needed to think what she wanted, did she want to continue on working with the WWE or did she want to quit after it all was through.

She was thinking about it between skits behind the scenes of Raw a week after the sentencing hearing of Dane. Lucy was weighing her options, but...she didn't know. Nessa was busy and Sophia was back at the hotel. Lucy's stomach had started to show at about three months now and it was scary to think there was something growing inside of her. Scary and amazing at the same time.

Randy, of all people, found her. Since the incident with her former adopted family, John had parted ways with Nikki. But Lucy hadn't really heard or spoken to Randy. He was walking down the hall where Lucy was was, back pressed against the wall, letting her hands run over her lower stomach.

"Hi."

She looked up at the man carrying his Money in the Bank case. She hadn't seen much of him, or heard from him for a long time and she would have liked that. Lucy stopped rubbing her stomach and looked at him briefly before looking down slightly. Not that she didn't know how to react, she didn't, but she wasn't sure if it was her fault that he and John had a falling out.

"Congratulations, Lucy."

"For what?" She asked, bringing her eyes up to him.

"For making a kid with Roman Reigns. I mean...sure I would have liked that it was us right now but..." His hand started inching towards her, lowering so that it was reaching out to her stomach.

"Don't touch me." Her voice was lowered slightly. "Don't even think about touching me."

Randy sighed and looked at her. "Look, Luce...I just wanted to come and apologize. I've done some wrong things in life and I...just wanted to say thank you."

"For what?" She was trying to slide herself out from being blocked by a wall and by The Viper, the Apex Preditor at the moment.

"For just...being you. If you didn't speak out about my infedelity, I would have kept doing it and Sam needs me. Hell my own Dad called me a fucking asshole for being the way I am. I've tried so hard to go against what everyone thinks of me, that man that just slept with the most women around, you know." No not really, she thought but she just nodded. "It took my wife treatening to divorce me to open my eyes. All this time I pined for you, for that one thing I couldn't have...when all that I needed is back in St. Louis waiting for me to come home."

She still didn't understand but she let the man talk. Lucy knew talking about issues to someone who didn't talk back helped, she'd done that to animals all her life, from pets to squirrels, birds and even a deer or two that came through the forest. If she didn't talk he would figure out his own issues.

"How can you do it?" Randy asked.

"Do what?" She responded, not sure of what he was asking her.

"Just know he's the one for you."

"I didn't let anyone else dictate who I was going to be with. He let's me be me, regardless of my deficits in life. I can put a mask on when I'm in front of people, on television, but I don't need to be that way with Joe."

"Reigns..."

"His name is Joe outside of it. Just admit it, Randy, you bought into the BS my old family has spewed over the years. I was only capable of accepting friends from my brothers' friends. Well you're wrong. I have my own friends, and they are helping me. Joe and I are happy together, no matter how many people are trying to break us up. The Bellas, Aksana, you, the Cena family, we're going to be together no matter what."

"You're still a Cena."

"What is this with you...I am Lucine Edith Ferguson, that's my name now. It's a name I chose to live with, it was the one I was supposed to have." She felt like she was going to cry. "I don't know what to say to you, Randy. You attacked me twice in my life, you pushed yourself at me and I was told I was the one that was wrong. Just stay away from me, stay away from Joe, better yet stay out of my damn life."

She turned and walked away, fed up with Randy at this moment.

/

Being pregant was a bitch, Joe noticed as he watched Lucy yack up in the toilet of the locker room. Stephen was holder Lucy's hair out of her face, rubbing her back slightly to help ease her. He'd found her in the hallway and was bringing her back to the locker room when Joe found them. The Irishman had taken to being like her older brother, teaching her the history of Ireland and just being a general friend. Joe wouldn't hesitate to say he didn't like that other men were touching her but she didn't seem to mind.

"She met up with Randy." Stephan said, making Joe groan. "He upset her." The Irishman motioned for him to approach. "I got to get ready for my match, can ya take over for me?"

It's not like she could comprehend anything, Lucy just wanted her stomach to stop heaving on her. It felt like she was hugging the toilet bowl at that moment and she hadn't noticed that Joe returned.

"How do you feel, Babygirl?" She heard him say.

"Like I'm seasick in waves. The first comes in the morning, and then noon and then at night. Oh." She groaned resting her head against her forearm.

"And we have a skit in like twenty minutes."

"Shit. Shit..shit...shit." She chanted before taking a few deep breaths. "Okay. Let me freshen up quickly and then we can go."

Splashing water on her face, Lucy smiled after she dried her face. Joe was looking at her in the mirror, leaning against the doorjam. He reached out and ran his fingers through her hair. It was getting harder to decide now, to quit and be a mother, or just go on and go through the motions of working in the WWE. She looked down, unsure of what to do.

"What's wrong, Babygirl?"

"I don't know what to do. Do I quit or do I go on with the WWE?"

"It's not something you have to worry about for a few more weeks. And we're going to be late for the skit if we don't get going soon." He said calmly.

When the skit started it was just between the three men of The Shield. The three men approached her as she was on that tablet of hers, working as a PA was supposed to. What was going to happen would shock the world of the WWE Universe.

"What is it that you had to call us to this little meeting, Lucy?" Dean Ambrose asked, looking down at the little woman. "Why didn't you walk down with us earlier?"

She sighed. "I can't because..." Lucy looked down. "Because I'm pregnant."

The three men didn't say anything, Seth's mouth hung slightly open and Roman just stayed stoicly quiet.

"What?" Dean asked. "What do you mean you're pregnant. Who've you been with?"

"Well that's another issue. I can't be your guys' PA because of conflict of interest. It's yours, Roman." She looked at him.

Dean actually stepped back, looking at the large Samoan. Seth was gawking at him.

"See what I mean, conflict of interest. I'm not going to continue working for you because of this. I can't do this, not to you guys. If you don't believe me, believe in me...I don't know." In the back of her mind she wondered why she agreed to let the fans know about her and Roman Reigns.

"Tell you what, if this kid is Reigns', you ought to just leave and take care of it. He'll be a man, do right by you and this kid. You won't stop working for us, you'll go until you are placed on pregnancy leave. If you come back to work, then that's your choice. If you don't...dude you better take care of her." Dean looked at Roman.

"Right now we need to know if you still believe in The Shield."

"Yes, I believe, Mr. Ambrose. I believe in you gentlemen. Can't say I believe in myself at the moment, but I do believe in you."

"Great." Seth looked at Roman. "Congratulations, man."

"Thanks." Roman kept his eyes on the smaller woman, making her look away. "Move." He said, reaching out and lightly touching her arm. "We need to talk."  
Dean and Seth were filmed standing there, a smirk on Seth's face and Dean just shaking his head.

Joe stopped Lucy, making her look at him. "I haven't told you how much I love you in a while." He said, his hand coming up to touch her face.

It had taken a while to not flinch from him, but now it was easy for her to let him touch her. Lucy liked him cupping the side of her neck and rubbing her cheek with his thumb. It reminder her of their size differences, how big and gentle he was, how small and strong she was. Their differences were vast, in likes and manners, in everything, but to her she just fit in with his life, and he did with hers.

"I love you, too." She smiled at him, accepting a kiss even if there were other people around.

* * *

**I'm not sure if I got the skit down correctly, I just thought that the fans should know in the story that Lucy was pregnant and that Roman Reigns is the father. I'm not sure if this is the best chapter to come up with...I've been on a block for a while, I really don't know where to take the story now.**


	52. Chapter 52

**Please note that I have no personal history with pregnancy. Researching this stuff is sort of limited on my part. Enjoy.**

* * *

The saying time flies when you're having fun often confused Lucy. To her, time was just time, you don't loose time and you don't gain time. Everyone had the same amount of time, it's how you use it that is key. At least that is what she thought.

In the dreary morning on a Wednesday, a month since Lucy had gotten back in the WWE, she was worried. The baby was doing fine, it was the reception to the baby that everyone was worried about. Lucy couldn't sleep, Joe was fast asleep and his phone was on the nightstand next to the table. Blinking at the brightness when she activated it, Lucy knew that Joe wasn't an avid Twitter guy, not like Colby was. But still, people could comment on stuff.

Well his recent Twitter pic was of Lucy. Lucy was engrossed in writing, and reading that manuscript of her Mom's. The table was spread with papers everywhere, Lucy had the mechanical pencil in her mouth, she was dead to the world. Her stomach, large for four months, was poking out from under the shirt she was wearing.

"She looks like a cow." Someone said, a comment that is.

Words like fat, ugly, retarded...they were so harsh on her. She didn't understand why, she never did anything to anyone that would warrant such hate from people.

_I wonder why Roman shacked up with that bitch. She's ugly._

Tears fell down her face, her hand going to her stomach as comments about the baby started rolling in.

_I bet it'll be retarded, too. Just like it's mother._

Words hurt, but when that fear was already imbedded into Lucy's head, the fear that her child may be autistic, that she wasn't beautiful enough, that she was fat...add to it the hormones of being pregnant. She just didn't know how to cope. Dropping the phone on the bed she bit her finger, a way for her to stay quiet, to be present enough to not try to wake Joe up. Since becoming pregnant, he'd stayed with her a lot more, it was getting to the point where she and Colby had to force him to leave her. But now, she didn't want to wake him from a well needed sleep.

But Joe knew the moment he felt her moving around that Lucy wasn't asleep. He'd gotten used to her having to get up in the middle of the night if she wakes up. The woman lived off less sleep that he did and when he felt her shaking, not from being cold but from crying, he knew something upset her.

"Babygirl, what is it?" He pressed his face into her hair. "Come on, you can tell me."

"I think it was a bad idea that we told the fans about us." She said, her voice shaking.

Pushing her hair off her shoulder, Joe kissed her flesh, making her shiver. He knew how sensitive she was to his touch. She always told him that it was something that tells her his touch was right, it was appropriate. He also knew how she felt about his facial hair. The scratchy feeling of his chin always made her toes curl, like little shots of electricity zapping down to the soles of her feet and to her finger tips.

"Why do you say that, Babygirl?" He asked, his voice rumbling against her skin.

"I read some of the stuff they say about me, about the baby."

"I'd ignore them if I were you." He adviced, nipping at her skin on her shoulder. "I'd worry about me."

"Why? You don't scare me, Samoan." She turned to look at him.

"You better be. You woke me up. What's up, can't sleep?" He asked, making her turn so that she was facing him.

"I think it's insomnia." She answered not meeting his gaze.

"Don't do that, Babygirl." He said, making her look at him. "You know you can trust me. You can tell me anything."

"I can't decide if I should stay or if I should go. My contract is coming to an end soon and...I...don't know if I should stay on the road with you or go do the one thing that I am comfortable with."

He smiled. "I will support you, it's your choice, Lucy. You come first, you and the baby come before my career."

"I still want to advocate for the autism awareness stuff, that I can handle. I'm just not sure I can handle being on the road and being a mom at the same time." She reached up and began playing with his hair. She liked twirling it around her finger and watching it curl in response. "And the idea of not being with you hurts."

"I think that's why you can't sleep. You're worrying yourself sick, Lucy." He said before kissing her forehead.

Joe knew this was hard for her. As much as he would love for her to go on the road he knew there was his child that he was going to have to worry about. Her Maternity leave would be coming up in a month, when her contract was up at the beginning of August. She would have to decide to go back to work after the baby was born. But would she? Would she come back on the road, with a baby in tow no less, or would she rather the child to grow up around his family back in Florida?

"Sleep, Babygirl. We have to go to the doctor later today to see how our baby is doing."

They've been so busy with appearances, interviews and shows that it was hard to time a wellness exam for the baby. Lucy was already taking prenatal vitamins, and making sure that she was eating the right things and exercising the right amount to keep swollen ankles in check. Her breasts, she joked, were starting to get bigger. She'd never really taken interest in her breasts, they were there since she got them. Now they were tinder to the touch, and Joe seemed to forget it sometimes.

When the doctor's appointment came around, Colby and Jon were bored out of their minds so Joe suggested that they come along to the appointment with him and Lucy. Trinity and Ariane had treated Sophia and Nessa to a shopping spree, although Lucy suspected it had something to do with the baby. Nevertheless, The Shield were able to come join in on the sonogram of the infant, but it would forever be a shock for them.

Colby like usual was filming the event on his phone. Jon was unusually quiet, usually he was cracking a joke about something to Lucy, trying to get her to laugh. But today he was a bit sullen. Was it because he didn't want to be there, no that wasn't it and Lucy wanted to ask but she thought it would be too much of a personal question. Joe on the other hand was always right there, holding her hand and telling her everything was going to be okay.

Joe was at the chair next to the exam table, there was an ultrasound machine in the room and it seems so small to her even as Colby and Jon stood at the door. The doctor came in, a nice older woman who reminded Lucy of a mother herself, the gentle kind one she remembered her mother being.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Ravi." The woman said, she was Indian, not Native American but from India. "Who are these gentlemen?"

"This is my boyfriend, Joe. That's Jon and the one with the phone is Colby. He's sort of the videographer for us. I'm Lucy Ferguson."

"I'm suspecting Joe is the father here?" Dr. Ravi asked.

She wasn't going to tell the doctor that it was a stupid question but...eh...she let it go. "Yeah, he is. Because we travel a lot with the WWE it's hard to get an appointment for a sonogram."

"Are you taking care of yourself in the mean time, vitamins and exercise and eating habits?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Lucy responded, watching the doctor prepare the machine in the room.

jon had never been in one of these things. Not that Colby did either and Phil would be waiting for them back at the hotel so that he could give them a lift to the next house show. Everyone would meet back there so that they could hear about the appointment. But right now Lucy was curious about the baby.

"Okay, lift your shirt and lower your pants, I'm going to tuck this towel in for you." Dr. Ravi said standing up.

The first pictures were hard for Lucy to see, or understand. It looked like a blob in there, a mass. It wasn't until the doctor started pointing out different body parts that Lucy figured out that it was a baby in there.

"Oh my..." The doctor said, startled as she adjusted the wand on Lucy's stomach.

"What?" The four people asksed.

"Well, they're definitely there."

"Wait, they?" Lucy asked, lifting her head up.

* * *

Phil never had this many people crammed in his bus. The Shield, Lucy, Nessa, Sophia, the dog Kevin, The Usos, Trinity, and him, it was a little stuffy now. But Lucy wanted this, she wanted family to be there, and since Phil was now her friend and confidant, he felt honored that she would want him to be there to learn about the baby.

"I always thought I was having a big baby, not that he isn't enough already." Lucy tried to joke, jabbing a thumb at Joe who was rubbing her feet on the couch.

"Funny, Babygirl. Very funny." Joe replied as he pushed his hands up her calf.

"But there is a reason for it. I'm about seventeen weeks along, which in a normal pregnancy I shouldn't be this big." She indicated to her stomach.

"So it is a big baby." Nessa said. "Is it healthy."

"They're doing just fine." Joe answered, smiling.

It was one word that seemed to be overlooked, Lucy thought as everyone else but The Shield congratulated the happy expecting couple.

"Wait..." Phil spoke up after everyone else. "You said they. They are okay. What the hell are you talking about?"

Colby was catching everyone reaction on his phone when he spoke up. "That's what we thought at first. It took us a while before we figured it out by looking at the pictures."

Jon handed the sonogram pictures to Nessa. "See, there's the head, an arm, another arm, a leg, there's an arm..."

"Twin! You're having twins?" She yelled at Lucy.

Jonathan and Joshue started speaking to Joe in their Samoan language and everyone started speaking at once. Sophia though saw it almost instantly, how Lucy ducked her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Stop, everyone..." She called out, her voice echoing off the walls of the bus. "You're freaking her out."

"Thanks, Sophia. I...I'm sorry. It was like a crash in on my brain or something." Lucy said, looking at Joe. "I can't wait for the kids when they're old enough to start calling Jon and Colby uncles."

Nessa laughed, wiping a tear from her face. "Yeah, that would be the day. I'm so happy for you two. I get to be an aunt as well, right?"

"Of course. If it hadn't been for you and your insistance i wouldn't have had the courage to approach Joe."

"We got a set of twin Cuzes on the way." Jonathan laughed. "We'll teach them the twin game for sure."

"Oh please don't, I get confused enough as it is with the both of you." Lucy groaned.

"I'm still proud of you, Lucy." Phil spoke up. "You've come a long way with everything going on."

"I know. But I think I've come to a decision about if I'm going to stay on the road or not. I've decided to not. It's not my place, the constant changing, my routines are all mixed up...being around so many people are starting to wear on my brain. I don't think I can handle it. I would like to still do autism awareness stuff, but...I don't think my place is in front of the cameras."

So there it was, her choice. Joe knew it was better for her. As he smoothed his hands over her calf, he smiled at her.

"But it doesn't mean I won't be coming on the road from time to time so that Joe can see his son and daughter."

"They're a boy and a girl? Well there goes the twin thing." Joshua said, rolling his eyes.

Lucy looked at Joe, her hand coming up to smooth back his hair. She was happy with him, happy for him. She knew this was his dream, but hers was always going to be writing. It was her passion, her dream. She would accept that about him and he accepted that about her.

Words meant the world to Lucy, even if speaking them were hard for her to do. This was her story, this was her place in the world, but she chose how the story was going to go.

But it wouldn't end just there. No, she decided that it would go on. It would go on for life until someone else told it for her.

* * *

**I'm not sure if this was the best chapter nor do I believe it's the ending that I want. I'll have to think that one through to the end, so to speak. In the mean time, what do all of you think?**


	53. Chapter 53

His grey eyes watched her. Joe Anoa'i watched as Lucy Ferguson was reading a book while she rocked their son Kai Leati Anoa'i. Joe was in the other rocking chair in the nursery with his daughter Kauila Eileen Anoa'i, his little turtle.

People understood Lucy's standing about not going back to the WWE, her priorities had changed and that she wanted to do her own thing. After reading those Twitter comments when she was four months along, Lucy had abandoned all social media stuff. She refused anything Facebook or Twitter. He'd seen her engrossed in those online forums, but then again she began writing at a rapid speed.

"I like that we moved to Pensacola." Lucy suddenly said. She always said the strangest things when she was content.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, your parents are cool. Aunt Brianna and Uncle Brian would like for us to come over to Ireland when the twins are old enough to travel."

Traveling, that was a sore topic at the moment.

Some fans were still supportive of Lucy and Joe, excited to see pictures of the twins, Kai and Kauila. But others were still very negetive about it. At the request of Colby, she had started an Instagram account to monitor her pregnancy and then the birth...

Oh their birth was horrendous on Lucy. Kai was big and Kauila was weak because her brother was taking all the nutrients that Lucy was ingesting. Supporting a life inside was difficult enough, but two was down right impossible for Lucy. She was weak, she was exhausted and he small body was not able to keep up with the demands of the twins. At around the thirty-two week mark the doctor she was seeing in Pensacola suggested a C-Section.

"I'm scared, Joe." Lucy whispered as she was laying on the operating table, him holding her hand.

She was scared and he didn't know how to comfort her at the time.

"Focus on me." His voice sounded strange behind that mask of his.

"You look like a big blue marshmellow." She told him, causing him and a few of the nurses around them to laugh.

Out in the surgical waiting room just about everyone in the Anoa'i family, the rest of The Shield, Sophia, Nessa and others in the WWE were waiting for news of the surgery. John Cena was there, the three European friends...there was a herd of people in the waiting room near the delivery room waiting for answers.

Lucy was scared nonetheless. Joe filmed using his camera, knowing that everyone would want to see the moment that they were born. The doctors were scared because Kauila was in a state of distress, her brother was so big she wasn't getting the proper health that she needed to survive. They got Kai out first, a healthy and pink crying boy. Lucy was able to see him over the curtain, he already had dark hair like his father. She couldn't help but cry to see the little boy, Kai.

But Kauila was a little different. She wasn't crying when she was taken out. Kai was screaming in one part of the room but her little girl wasn't. They whisked her off to emergency care, and now it was a fight for survival.

A few hours later, after Lucy was set up in her hospital room, Kai in a little hospital basinnette next to her bed. It was like she was mad and sad at the same time, being able to almost taste it. She couldn't blame Kai for this, she know she couldn't. But just thinking that Kauila was sick, no one had heard about her and the damned nurses weren't saying anything when they came in to see how she was doing. Joe wasn't there, he was telling everyone what was going on and went to go see if he could find anything out on Kauila.

Set up in the room was the St. Bridget statue that her grandmother had given her before she had passed. Lucy had never really been one for religion, a God figure or anything, but asking for help from a being that wasn't tangible seemed a far fetch for her.

"Please let her be okay." She said, looking at Bridget's face. "She's the little girl that I wanted. She's going to have her father's hair, my eyes...but I need her. I can't loose her. I can't loose either of them." Lucy said.

Joe stood at the doorway, a little bundle in his arms. She was so small, a premie size thing but she had been suddenly able to breathe on her own, after getting some fluids and oxygen she was strong. He had Lucy ask St. Bridget for help, and it broke his heart knowing that she didn't know anything. In her chart it read autistic, and for some damned reason the doctor thought she wasn't competent enough to know what was going on with her daughter.

"She's fine, Lucina." She looked up at her boyfriend's face. "They just needed to give her some extra care. But look, she's pink and sleeping."

Handing the small little girl off to her mother, Joe stepped back and watched as Lucy checked every inch of Kauila for herself. Every finger, every toe, the little girl didn't mind not being unwrapped by her mother. Lucy expertly wrapped her right back up tightly and held her close. Silence the entire time, but Joe could see the tears falling down her face. Kai was sleeping in the bassinette and Kauila was with her mother finally.

Lucy spoke up, bringing Joe out of his memory. "Thinking about when they were born?" She asked putting the book down and getting up.

He did the same thing. "Yeah. It's going to suck when I'm not here to help you."

"That's why we moved to Pensacola, so that we could be closer to your family. They will help me. Ms. Simone is going to be coming by after school to check on me."

"I'm going to miss you and them." Joe placed Kai down in the crib with his sister.

Lucy didn't say anything as she walked out of the nursery, heading down to their room. Something was on her mind, he knew that. Whenever she got really quiet and wouldn't talk she was thinking of something.

"What is it, Lucy?"

"I sent in the manuscript of my mom's story."

"I thought that it wasn't finished."

"It wasn't, but I did finish it. I read it and it was like I understood what she was writing about and decided to see if I could finish it. And I did."

Joe was confused. "Yeah, okay."

"Well I sent in with the manuscript the history behind the story and one of the publishing companies I sent it to was impressed, not just by the manuscript but by the story behind it. They want to publish it. They want to publish my Mom's book."

"That's great, isn't it?"

"It is, I'm just not sure it would get the reception that other first time novels would."

"Lucy, just think of it this way. They are going to publish your book and your mom's book. They want to take the time, they think it will do great. This is your dream." He turned her towards him. "This is all great stuff, Babygirl."

She sighed and then she smiled. "I guess it is."

"You've accomplished your dream, Lucy. This is what you wanted, isn't it?"

"I think my dream changed when I met you." She looked into his grey eyes. "You found beauty in me, when I didn't see it. You saw me as something beautiful and not just a socially awkward girl. I only ever really thought I was pretty, that I wouldn't be wanted by anyone else."

He smiled. "You're my pretty beautiful, Lucy. You have my heart, you and I created two beautiful little kids. For once in my life I'm happy. I have you three to come home to after traveling. Our friends are moving to Florida just to be closer to you guys. My family has been in love with you when I brought you to see them. You are the light of my life, Lucina Edith Ferguson."

Something in his tone was off. Lucy knew that he was planning something. And what happened was something she didn't know was possible for her. Joe pulled a small box from his pocket, got down on one knee in their bedroom and opened it.

"Can I be the light of your life, Lucy? Will you marry me?" He asked.

It was one simple answer that did brighten his life. "Yes." She said, tears falling down her face.

Whatever would come for them, this story was done for them. But the story of their children was just beginning, and as the pages started to turn they would reveal hardships for the new parents, but this story is where it will end.

It ends with the grey eyes man looking at the woman that was beautiful.

"My Pretty Beautiful." He said, kissing her as he slid the ring onto her finger.

* * *

**Yay, it's finished. Now I can focus on my other story Bring Love to Me. If you want you can check it out. But I am so happy. This is a milestone for me, I've never finished a writing project before. Just knowing that people are reading my stories it helps me to focus, to keep writing because so many people like my work. Thank you for putting up with me. **


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